A Masked Secret
by ShadowBloodNinja
Summary: "Uta-san, there are worse things than Ghouls out there, don't you think?" Uta looked at her curiously, "After all, something isn't born evil. It's created." - In which a friendship turns to more and secrets drag you into a pit of despair that you can never recover from. "You have your secrets Uta-san, I also have mine."
1. She and Him

**A Masked Secret**

_Summary- "Uta-san, there are worse things than Ghouls out there, don't you think?" Uta looked at her curiously, "After all, something isn't born evil. It's created."__\- In which a friendship turns to more and secrets drag you into a pit of despair that you can never recover from. "You have your secrets Uta-san, I also have_ mine."

_Chapter 1_

_She and Him_

* * *

The mask shop was silent except for the scratching of a pencil on paper. A pale man sat on a stool, his hand wrapped around a pencil as his abnormal eyes stared down at the sketchbook. His eyes were red with black scelera, signifying he was a Ghoul.

Suddenly his nostrils flared and he reached into his desk, pulling out a pair of work goggles that he snapped on over his eyes. The dark lenses of the goggles made his eye color unidentifiable and his eyes appeared to be normal. A moment later the door to his mask shop opened and a girl entered. The mask maker sniffed the air again, noting that she smelled distinctly human, but not quite. She didn't have the smell of a halfling, but not the smell of a normal human. Brushing it off and ignoring the curiousity in the back of his mind, he looked at the girl.

She didn't look to be too old, maybe early twenties or even younger. She was pale with white hair that swept across her face in bangs and was kept in a messy side ponytail that trailed down her side and easily reached her hip. Her eyes were almost hidden in the shadows of her bangs and the mask maker couldn't determine a color. Her body was mature despite her height, and her face narrow. A black petticoat covered her body and black leggings into black boots covered her legs. Makeup covered her face and the smell was covering her human scent, perhaps that was why she smelled so different? Lucky for her, skin and smell could have awoken his hunger. After all, he hadn't eaten much since his last corpse a week prior and he had only had small meals upon a single corpse for three weeks. He had a small meal the day before, a snack really. Leftovers had dwindled and Uta would have to find a new corpse soon.

"Are you the mask maker?" Her voice was deep and sultry, a calm tone taken. She was interested in the masks the he could tell as she gave appreciative glances to several of his fine crafts.

"What gave it away?" he asked, his tone curious and innocent yet she regarded him with slight caution. No doubt his troublesome appearance, his black hair in a ponytail and half shaved, his pale skin and his tattoos.

"Perhaps the masks." she conceded, "Do you do custom designs?"

"Mm." the mask maker nodded, already reaching for his supplies. He paused when she reached into the black bag that was at her hip and pulled out a worn black leather bound sketchbook.

"I'm an artist and I wanted to give masks a shot. I'd like my designs to come to life, but I'm not a proffesional mask maker, nor do I have the materials." explained the girl as she flipped through the book. The pages were old and his eyes watched as she turned quickly yet gingerly, taking care in not ripping the pages.

"Perhaps, if I like your design." the mask maker demurred as she stopped on a page and flipped the sketchbook to show him. The mask maker eyed the design. For a new mask maker, it was a work with promise. The mask was from the nose up with a cut out going around the left eye to show the skin. It only showed the left eye, the right side having light carved designs covering right side of the mask dropped down the cheek and curved with the jaw, resting just below the lips. The sides had a feathery appearance to them, the feathers drooping down the side of the face. In the margins messy handwriting had arrows pointing colors, black feathers and light silver ink over the carvings with the mask being plain white. It was simple, yet elegant.

"What inspired you?" the mask maker inquired. A mysterious smile came across the girl's red painted lips.

"That's a secret." she answered, "Now how much will it cost to comission you to make this mask?" The mask maker ignored the question as he looked over the design again.

"It was quite rude of me, I didn't introduce myself. But neither did you." he finally said after a moment. The girl's lips curved into a smirk.

"Is that your way of asking my name?" she asked. The mask maker looked at her.

"Is that your way of avoiding the question?" he retorted. She chuckled, and it was a chuckle not a giggle or a laugh. A chuckle didn't describe the noise she made either, but it would have to do, he decided.

"You may call me Shi, you are?"

The mask maker didn't comment on her deflection, "My name is Uta, Shi-san."

"A pleasure, Uta-san. Now, the mask's price?" she inquired once again. Uta almost deflected again, just to annoy her, but a sudden smell hit his nose as he heard the door to his shop open.

"Shi-san, if you could perhaps step into that room there and close the door? This client is a bit... troublesome." Uta told her, gently putting a hand on her upper back and gesturing to the door that led to the stairs to his apartment. Shi didn't question it, only giving a suspicious and slightly annoyed glance to the mask maker. Uta closed the door as his new client turned into view.

"Fen-san." Uta greeted, a tight lipped smile hiding his annoyance at being interupted with the strange human he had just hidden from the predator. Although, Uta was a predator himself.

"Uta-san, is my mask finished?" Fen was a Ghoul who had little patience and had already been in the shop twice that week. Luckily, Uta had finally finished his mask.

"Yes." Uta nodded and lifted the mask from a stand, "Would you like to try it on or have it wrapped?"

"Wrapped-" The Ghoul paused and sniffed the air before lowering his voice, "Uta-san is that human I smell?"

"I have other clients, Fen-san." Uta dutifully replied. His eyebrows creased in annoyance when Fen headed towards the door that Shi was behind. She was no doubt sitting on the stairs right there, as it was impolite to enter ones home without their permission.

"Fen-san, take your mask and leave." Uta ordered, wrapping the mask in tissue paper and gently placing it in a box. When Fen didn't turn around, Uta focused killing intent in his direction. Uta was getting annoyed by this client's nosy behaviour. It was quite rude.

"It's just a peek, the human's dinner isn't it?" asked Fen. Uta tossed the box at the Ghoul, stepping in front of the door.

"I have other customers, humans included." Uta calmly stated, eyes narrowing at the Ghoul.

"Tch, not even sharing with your customer." complained Fen, but he backed off. He left with his mask after another minute of complaining. Uta opened the door after waiting a moment to make sure Fen wouldn't happen to "forget" something.

"Not even any yelling. A pity." said Shi dryly as she stood up from where she was politely sitting on the stairs that led to his loft apartment.

"I'm still waiting on that price, Uta-san." she added after a moment of silence where Uta returned to his work station.

"Come back in two days." Uta told her, smiling to himself. Shi narrowed her eyes as if seeing his smile despite his back being turned to her.

"Fine then. I'll be back in forty-eight hours exactly. You better have the damn price by then, Uta-san." Shi snapped in a less than intimidating tone. Her tone sounded more amused than anything.

Uta looked up from his work bench at her retreating form. His eyes followed the sway of her hips until she left. It was then he felt the wanting. Her intoxicating human smell was in the air and Uta pushed his goggles back to rub at his eyes.

'Humans,' Uta sighed as he looked down at the sketchbook she had left which was absolutely doused in her stench, 'And I fed yesterday too.'


	2. Face

**A Masked Secret**

_Chapter 2_

_Face_

* * *

Uta was putting the final touches on the mask Shi had comissioned exactly forty-seven hours and twenty minutes after she left when the door opened. She had entered the mask shop with more confidence than her previous visit. Uta looked her over, his goggles had already been perched on his face in wait of Shi. She was wearing the same clothes as the previous visit with the only difference being her bangs were behind her ears today.

Her eyes were... off. Uta looked at them intently as she approached but the dull dark grey eyes were off-putting. They were normal eyes, nothing different. They just didn't look natural on her, as if her eyes were supposed to be brighter and a different color. Uta brushed it off as his creative intuition demanding brighter colors on her (After all the only color she had was her red painted lips).

Uta looked at the clock, "You're forty minutes early."

"Is that your way of asking for more time?" asked Shi, pulling a stool up to the work bench and pulling her sketchbook to her. It hadn't been flipped to any other pages, much to her surprise. As if Uta knew what she was thinking, he spoke.

"It's rude to look through an artist's sketchbook without asking." he stated. She nodded in appreciative agreement. Uta finished the mask a moment later and he lifted it up. He appraised it once before reaching to Shi. He tilted her head up and lifted the mask to her face, gently placing it around her features.

Uta, focused on the mask, took no notice of how beneath the foundation and makeup that covered her face, Shi was blushing and surprised at the bold move he had made. It was bold and strange to put a mask on a client without asking, at least she thought so. Appraising the mask maker again, Shi figured that Uta was a bit of a strange man.

Uta's eyes followed the elegant mask. It fit her nose fine, she had a small nose and small but pouting lips. Her eyes were big yet narrow, and still that offputting shade of gray that he just couldn't appreciate. The edges didn't fit right though, while the top of the mask reached her hairline and the bottom just reached the base of the bottom of her nose and the right side was perfect in following her jaw and reaching just below her lips, the sides reached out to on her ears. The sides needed to be adjusted to just rest before her ears, the feathers would cover the piece that hooked onto her ears like the ends of glasses. Delicate ribbon tied behind her head to give it a masquerade appearance.

"I didn't measure your face so I estimated." Uta said as an explanation before he pulled off the mask, tugged the edges and with a nod he dropped it in a mold.

He looked at the clock again, "Ten minutes."

And sure enough, ten minutes later after using tools that Shi hadn't expected to be used in mask making, the mask was done. Uta once again, without asking, simply tilted Shi's face up and fit the mask to her face. He stepped back to admire it.

Her pale features against the black feathers gave contrast. The black feathers mixed with her hair and covered her ears, the feathers cascaded down beneath her chin and rested almost to her collar bone. The single eye hole had been given a bit of a feminine shape and Uta had taken a bit of stylistic charge and added a black outline to give the appearance of eyeliner or eyelashes. The carved designs were a light silver. The designs were simple, it was an abstract hand reaching out to another hand. At least, that was what Uta had seen while creating it. Another could see something different in the twisting lines.

"Beautiful." Uta breathed as he admired the mask. But not only the mask. Uta's eyes appreciated the woman wearing it. Then, he realized that this was a human he was admiring.

'Human's are food,' he chided himself, 'Don't get attached.'

"It is, I'm not even mad with the design you added. How much?" inquired Shi as she lifted the mask from her face gingerly. Uta didn't answer, putting the mask back on her face and reaching behind her head to tie the ribbon. His fingers brushed the tips of her ears, and he felt more earrings than he realized she had. He thought to his own piercings, his two eyebrow piercings and his lip. Not to mention the several that decorated his ears.

"Uta-san," Shi said patiently, "The price?" Uta hummed as he stepped back to look again. The mask was simple to make. He had used light metal for the mask itself, and feathers were easy to come by.

"Nothing." he decided. Shi gaped at him, and Uta found amusement in how undignified she was for the first time since they met.

"Nothing?" she repeated.

"Nothing." he agreed.

Shi's eyes narrowed at him, "No, I am going to pay you."

"Perhaps..." Uta trailed as he weaved through the rows of masks.

"What?" Shi asked eagerly. Uta found her eagerness surprising. Weren't most humans frugal and greedy? He found that to be the case often, Ghouls too.

"Perhaps..." Uta stopped and turned to Shi. He tilted his head as she leaned forward, looking intently at him in wait. He gave his usual smile.

"Nothing."

"Uta-san-"

"Shi-san." Uta replied teasingly. Shi frowned as she pulled at the bow Uta had made with the ribbon. She removed her mask and stood. She placed it cautiously on the table, as if it were fragile, and she walked to Uta. Uta breathed in the smell of makeup and human once again and his pulse raced. He put a hand to his neck, internally frowning over his pulse. He wasn't hungry, so his pulse should have stayed steady despite the human. He had made sure to eat that morning so that he wouldn't be hungry for Shi's visit.

"You know what, Uta-san?" Shi suddenly decided, putting her hands on her hips. Uta cocked his head at her to show he was listening.

"How about I take you out for lunch or something since you don't want to be paid?" suggested Shi. Uta found that funny.

"I'm fine." he answered, lifting a mask from it's mannequin and holding it to his face to look at her. Shi frowned at his lack of care.

"No, I don't care if you just get coffee or water or something. Hell, it doesn't even have to be me paying for my mask if you don't want it to be. It can be as friends or acquaintances or something, I'd feel better at least treating you to something." Shi huffed, moving her hands from her hips to her chest where she crossed them. Uta shrugged at her.

"Alright, it's settled then. When are you free?" Shi asked brightly.

"Never." Uta replied just as brightly, "I'm always working." He gestured to his eyes and the masks around them. Shi sighed.

"Fine then, be that way. Next time I have a mask design I'll be sure to stop by, Uta-san." Shi grabbed her sketchbook and bag, sliding the mask into her bag with careful hands. She started towards the door and suddenly Uta felt like he had missed something. Something like a chance or an opportunity. When Shi was gone, he found that he missed her smell. She didn't smell just like human anymore, now her lingering aroma gave off hints of something spicy. She smelled less like meat and more like something pleasant.

* * *

**Thanks to the following for reviewing!**

**Your (Guest)**  
**MaxBacon**


	3. A Chance Meeting

**A Masked Secret**

_Chapter 3_

_A Chance Meeting_

* * *

Humans were fragile beings, Uta knew. He was a predator after all, he ate them. While he was affiliated with Anteiku he still killed humans for food. His victims weren't found dead though, he brought one home on occasion and kept the body in his apartment's freezer until he was hungry. He sometimes, feeling the urges to be cruel and sadistic, locked them away while alive and ate fresh before putting the remains away so they would remain fresh. Or, if he was feeling especially cruel, he would keep them alive. He would take limbs from them and keep them alive until they were out of limbs and body parts they could spare without dying.

It was late at night when he was walking through the dangerous alleys of the fourth ward, looking for a meal that would tide him over for a month, when he caught a familiar scent. He paused for a moment, sniffing the air, when the smell of spices and human swirled around him. He followed it to an alley where Shi was walking through calmly, as if the existence of Ghouls wouldn't be a danger to her.

'Stupid human, going through a dark alley in this ward.' Uta thought, watching her from the shadows. Suddenly, she ducked to the floor and a Ghoul sailed over her head with its arms outstretched and its kagune beginning to spill out from its back. Uta's eyes widened momentarily after witnessing her easily dodge that Ghoul. Shi turned and sprinted down the alley without hesitation, the Ghoul going to give chase.

Uta's body seemed to move on it's own. One moment he was watching, the next, his hand was in that Ghoul's throat. A mask was perched on Uta's face, hiding his appearance from the Ghoul and any other witnesses. Uta, without a second thought, plunged his hands through the Ghoul's skull and then ripped out its heart before the Ghoul could even think about its kagune. Uta left the Ghoul there, as he wasn't a cannibal himself. He did find the other cannibals in the ward amusing though. He didn't think on why he killed that Ghoul, or why he saved Shi. He ignored it, it was probably because he found her interesting. Or because she would maybe bring more customers for his masks.

The next morning Uta was in his shop, working on a mask when the door opened and a familiar scent of spices that had led him to killing another Ghoul filled his nose. He found himself surprisingly excited to see her as she turned into the shop while he pulled his work goggles on. Like her last two visits, she wore the exact same clothes and the exact same expression. She blew the bangs out of her face as she approached Uta.

"C'mon." she grabbed his arm and lifted him from his stool. Uta allowed it, "We're going to get coffee."

"Why?" Uta inquired politely. Shi flashed a smile at him.

"Because I was in the area and wanted coffee, and I owe you something." Uta accepted the answer, allowing himself to be dragged up. He had Shi wait as he went into his studio apartment to grab a pair of dark sunglasses to replace his goggles. Like his goggles, his eyes were still perfectly visible in the right lighting but the coloring looked normal and ambiguous. Then as he left with Shi he flipped the Open sign to say Closed. They climbed the stairs and she turned to Uta.

"You can pick the coffee shop." she told him, brilliantly smiling at him. Uta led her to a simple coffee shop in the ward. She had clung to his arm as if he would try and flee should she let go. She eventually did let go when they reached crowds of people, but he found he missed her presence on his arm. Shaking it off as him liking the smell of human, Uta perched in the chair across from Shi. No, he didn't sit, sit wasn't the right word. Perch was a much better word. He leaned slightly off the chair and put all his weight on his elbow that was resting on the table. One foot was underneath the chair while the other was on the side. His knees were together and his other hand was in his lap. Shi wanted to giggle, as she envisioned how Uta sat on the stool in his shop, but she held it in. Giggling out of nowhere was creepy after all.

The two ordered their coffee and Shi ordered a bun alongside her drink. She turned to Uta as they waited for their orders, "Thank you for coming, I know I dragged you out and inconvenienced you."

"It's fine. I like coffee." Uta demurred, giving her his usual smile. Shi breathed a little sigh of relief at the response and she leaned back.

"I was hoping we could actually be friends, of sorts." she began to talk. Uta regarded her with his usual smile but found the idea of friendship to actually sound pleasant. But a friendship with a human? Humans died, they were food and Uta wouldn't be there to save her again like he had the night prior.

"-we're both artists, and you seem like a fun person to be around. So what do you say, Uta-san? Want to try for a tentative friendship?" she finally finished as their coffee and her bun arrived. She nibbled on her bun while Uta sipped his coffee.

"Ah, sure." Uta found himself agreeing when he been ready to deflect the question. His agreement surprised himself. But, he didn't question it. He found himself endeared by the smile that Shi gave him at his answer.

"Wonderful!" Shi beamed. They drank their coffee in peace from then on, and when Shi finished her bun they parted ways after Shi explaining she would suggest exchanging cell phone numbers, but she didn't own one. She didn't see the need to own one. Uta had agreed with her on that.

Shi returned to her apartment after meeting with Uta, a smile on her pale, makeup encrusted face. She entered her apartment, kicking her shoes off at the genkan and walking across the cool wooden floor to her desk. Her apartment was simple with the living area her studio and a small bathroom and bedroom. She didn't have a bed, she had a futon that she occasionally slept on. She usually fell asleep at her desk as she was always working on a piece. Her apartment showed her artistic side, paint staining the floor around her desk and several easels while murals covered the once white walls. Clay figures decorated all surfaces and canvases took up a whole wall. The apartment was colorful and messy, just how she liked it.

Shi pulled off her coat and dropped it over the back of her couch. She tossed her bag on the couch while she went into the bathroom. Now she was left in just a white tank top that cut down, revealing tattoos climbing about her body. Shi was a part time tattoo artist after all, and her customers liked seeing that a tattoo artist had a bit of their own work on them. Beneath a few tattoos old scars, most likely from childhood incidents, raised her skin slightly but were unnoticeable to a lesser eye. Shi washed all her makeup off, revealing what she had hidden beneath it.

The only blemish on her doll perfection.

And with a final sigh she removed the color contacts that covered her eyes and set them away, allowing her eyes to breathe air for the first time in days. She blinked a few times and allowed her eyes to tear up. She tugged the hair tie from her side ponytail and her long white hair cascaded down around her. Shi was a person who enjoyed her comfort after all, and this was comfort for her. Her naked, flawed form among the beauty that was her art.

Her sudden laugh pierced the silent apartment. She looked in the mirror, suddenly taking note of how she had to clean the pierced skin that the makeup had covered. Her snake bites, her nose, her lip. Her tongue was probably closed again, she had to re-pierce it. She had several hoops and studs in each of her ears, she hardly had room left for more on her cartilage.

"To think, Uta-san looks scary." she murmured to herself, "But I am a beast compared to him. I am a beast hiding inside a beauty."

* * *

**Thanks to the following for reviewing:**

**Guest**  
**MaxBacon**


	4. Sleeping Beauty

**A Masked Secret**

_Chapter 4_

_Sleeping Beauty_

* * *

Shi was running late, it was almost midnight and she was cutting through alleys in the fourth ward in hopes of reaching her apartment before a Ghoul found her. She had come from a meeting with her boss. Shi was only a tattoo artist part time, she had her own studio and it was a self run tattoo parlor. Her other job was a cosmetologist for a high end fashion firm, and all the employees there had to be pristine and beautiful. It was expected of them after all. Beauty was expected from women, and Shi couldn't disappoint.

When a familiar set of stairs leading to a certain mask shop caught her eye, she paused in debating asking Uta for assistance. After almost moving on, she could almost feel eyes on her. Real eyes or not, probably real as Shi had extremely keen senses, she hurried down the stairs and knocked on the door. She winced at the Closed sign, hoping that Uta was a night owl such as herself and she wouldn't be waking him.

The door opened a moment later and Uta, in his usual attire thankfully and not his sleepwear, appeared with a curious expression on his passive smiling face, "Good evening, Shi-san."

"Ah, Uta-san, sorry for bothering you." Shi nervously ran a hand through her long white side ponytail, "I know it's late but I got out of work just a few minutes ago and I was running through the alleys hoping to get home but this ward isn't exactly known for being safe at night. I had a run in with a Ghoul a few days ago already..." Uta remembered that run in, but he didn't show it.

"Come in then, you're welcome to stay the night." Uta offered, surprising himself. He supposed he had intended to invite her inside, but to let her stay there for the night? That had come out on its on. Relief crossed Shi's face and she thanked him as he led her inside. As she had assumed, it seemed he had been dilligently working on masks at his work station when she had knocked.

"Ah, I don't have a couch, or an extra futon or bed. You may sleep in mine, I can work all night." Uta led her up to the loft apartment. He gestured to his bed, a large one with black sheets and matching blankets. It was unmade with three pillows, one pillow sitting on the floor next to the bed. There was one door she assumed led to the bathroom and his kitchen was very bare.

'He lives on microwave meals then, or take out.' Shi decided as she observed the room. Other than that it was relatively bare, nothing for entertaining guests or the like. It was darker than her own apartment, the walls dark bricks and the floor dark wood with black rugs by the door and bed.

"Thank you, Uta-san. I'll buy you lunch again." Shi bowed in gratitude. Uta shrugged.

"Just please don't open my fridge," Uta shifted, "...it's growing something in there."

"Don't cook much?" teased Shi, "Take out and microwave meals?" Uta nodded, going along with her assumption.

"If you need anything, I will be in the shop. Good night." Uta nodded to Shi and turned to the door. Shi looked from the bed to Uta.

"Hey, if you get tired, just kick me out of your bed. I sleep like the dead." Shi told him before she set her bag down next to his bed, pulled her hair out and smiled at him. Uta looked at her makeup covered face.

"Don't get makeup on the sheets. I don't do laundry." then he was gone, and Shi laughed to herself as she laid back on the bed. She was a bit tense, after all, it was a strange new place to be sleeping in. But, after a moment, the surprisingly pleasant smell of iron and ink that Uta carried lulled her to sleep.

An hour later when Uta peered around the corner to see if she was asleep, he was surprised to find she was. Calmly even. Uta wondered if she was a dense human who couldn't smell the death in the air, or tense up in his presence. She hadn't done that even when they had first met, Uta realized. He regarded the human again.

Her breathing was quiet and soft, her chest rising and falling evenly and slowly. She hadn't taken her makeup off, but it seems she had managed to stay asleep on her back and not get makeup on his black sheets (After all, her skin tone was almost the exact opposite of his sheets so foundation would be noticeable if she got it on them). Her long eyelashes, coated in black mascara, were lightly dusting her cheeks and her blood red lips were parted ever so slightly. Uta found himself almost drawn to her lips, their beautiful red color and their pouty appearance.

Uta put a hand to his neck when he realized his pulse was racing. A hunger started to growl deep within him, and he debated trying to get something from the fridge but if he woke Shi then he would have to kill her. He had eaten already, and he shouldn't be hungry. But he supposed Shi was an abnormally, causing his hunger to rise and him to lose control over his words.

Uta approached the sleeping beauty and looked down at her. He reached out as if to touch her, but when his pale fingers stained with dark paint and dark nails almost reached her cheek, he pulled back.

She was a human, after all. And he was a Ghoul. These things wouldn't work.

The next morning, Uta blinked open his eyes and sat up, surprised to find he had fallen asleep at his work bench. When he had looked around him he found Shi sitting on a stool, sketching in her leather bound book. She looked up when he moved, and she smiled at him.

Uta didn't notice the jump of his heart, or the softness of her smile.


	5. Not So Bad

**A Masked Secret**

_Chapter 5_

_Not So Bad_

* * *

Uta followed behind Shi as she walked down the street. It was early in the morning, and Shi had offered for Uta to come see her studio. It had been a week since she had stayed at his shop and in that week he hadn't seen her at all until today.

"I've been so busy, my week day job is awful." complained Shi as she slowed to match Uta's lackadaisical pace.

"Then quit." Uta said simply. He looked through his dark sunglasses at Shi as she sighed.

"I wish it were that simple, Uta-san. It pays bills, my weekend job doesn't cut it." Shi informed him as they stopped at a relatively high end building. They entered and a resident at his mailbox greeted Shi before staring at Uta in surprise.

"A friend of yours... Kao-san?" the man asked in surprise. He was an obvious human, Uta could smell everything on him. His cologne couldn't mask the scent of meat that he excreted.

"Yes, Usagi-san." Uta's lip twitched at his name. Shi caught it from the corner of her eye and managed to not snicker.

"Ah, a pleasure to meet you then." Usagi bowed to Uta politely, his face not quite expressing pleasure, before he took the most obvious yet not obvious route from them. He took the stairs as they waited for the elevator.

Uta looked to Shi after the elevator door closed the two in, "Your neighbor is named rabbit."

Shi didn't even bother to cover her snicker that time.

"Yep, his name is Usagi Taoku-san, as we are neighbors he is Rabbit-san to me. It's spelled differently, but it's pretty funny." Shi explained good naturedly. Uta, as polite as usual, didn't comment on her name. Shi an unlucky word meaning death and Kao, the word for visage.

"Your name is short." Uta commented, finally finding a more polite way to start a conversation on her name, "What characters do you use? Kao Shi-san." Shi laughed.

"I suppose so, Shi's just a nickname from part of my name actually but it's basically the same thing. Shi is in hiragana, so a single character. Kao is the kanji for visage, so Kao." Uta's curiosity peaked. If Shi was only part of her name, what was her real name? He didn't ask as the elevator opened and Shi led Uta to her apartment. Uta left his shoes neatly in the genkan while Shi tossed her boots down without a single care. Uta looked at her apartment, finding the disorder to contrast with her appearance greatly.

Shi pulled off her coat and for the first time, Uta saw more skin than just her hands, neck and makeup plastered face. Her shoulders were bare as she had a simple white tank top on with gray leggings today. To Uta's surprise, tattoos covered her arms and back. Many were simple black ink, but he could see some color on her arms and a white ink tattoo was at the base of her collar bone when she turned around.

"Welcome to my humble aboad!" she spread her arms out. She gave him a brief tour by pointing around the apartment, "If you're hungry feel free to raid my fridge, my studio is everywhere, that's my bedroom through that door and that door is the bathroom. The bathroom looks like it got nuked by makeup and I spilled red nail polish so that is not blood staining the tiles, it's nail polish. I think I've covered everything."

"Your apartment is nice. Creative." Uta appraised a few of the works that covered the wall while Shi sprawled out on the couch and started to sketch, using her legs as a table. Uta, who had brought his own sketchbook, eventually sat at her desk and started to sketch. He had been inspired by Shi, not for a mask, but for an actual sketch. He didn't alert her that he was sketching her, but from her constant glances at him he assumed she knew.

After time had passed, Uta had finished and the day had gone by quickly. The sunset's colors were touching the skyscrapers outside and Uta admired the view from the large windows that sported one wall of Shi's apartment.

Shi gathered her coat after glancing out the window, "What do you say to dinner, Uta-san?" Uta agreed. They went to a simple restaurant for dinner and sat down with menus at a booth facing each other.

"Mm, they have really good shrimp here." advised Shi, "I always get the shrimp teriyaki with fried rice. What are you going to get?" Uta scanned the menu.

"I'll take your advice and try the same." he said, closing the menu and smiling. When the waiter appeared, Uta ordered a water while Shi ordered a fizzy soda.

"We have a couple's special, a large plate of one dish for two-thirds the price of two meals." the waiter said upon getting their order.

"What do you think, Uta-san?" asked Shi when Uta looked at her in curiosity on if they'd take the special.

"Ah, yes." Uta nodded. Shi grinned at the waiter who wrote it down and disappeared. Shi placed her jaw on her hand as she sippsed her soda.

Pointing a lazy finger at Uta, she spoke, "Well Uta-san, according to the restaurant we're a couple. We probably look like a pretty fucking weird couple." Uta blinked at her before nodding, thinking about it. Shi looked the part of a normal business woman, her hair neat, makeup covering her face and a petticoat with leggings and boots while Uta had the look of a punk with piercings, tattoos and his hair long and half shaved.

"The waiter assuming we were a couple was interesting." Uta agreed. Shi gave a goofy grin.

"Not even a fake flirt line?" she put a hand to her heart, "You wound me, I expected greater from you, Uta-san. At least a flirty joke, or something. Am I not to your liking?"

Uta blinked at her in surprise before finding a good answer, "Nothing I say could be as eloquent as you, Shi-san." Shi pouted as she mixed the ice around her soda with her straw.

"Eloquent my ass, that was too polite, Uta-san." Shi pointed her straw at him, "Besides the moment was ruined when I pointed it out." Uta shrugged at her, but he was annoyed that he hadn't caught the opportunity to tease. He usually made those opportunities, not caught them and certainly not miss them.

When the waiter brought their meal he brought a new water for Uta and a matching new drink for Shi. Uta, rather than taking the wrapping off the straw, shot it at Shi and it smacked her forehead with a light sound of impact.

"Bang." Uta said in his usual flat, neutral tone as Shi realized that he had shot her.

She gaped at him, then narrowed her eyes, "If I get a third drink I'm shooting you, Uta-san." Uta didn't even give her a response, simply sipping his water in an unenthusiastic reply.

Shi, despite her small size, ate a majority of the shrimp teriyaki. Uta excused himself to the bathroom when they were done, and like a normal Ghoul, he puked the little rice and shrimp he had eaten into the toilet and flushed it away. Uta washed his face and stuck out his tongue at his reflection as if it could help rid the foul taste that remained on his tongue.

He exited the bathroom and when Shi attempted to pay, Uta slapped down money. She stared at the money for a moment before looking up at Uta, challenge in her eyes, "Excuse me?"

Uta didn't know what came over him, but with his usual smile just a little bit wider than normal, he said, "Isn't it a man's job to pay for his date's dinner?" and then he started to walk away, fully aware of how Shi was left slightly flustered and trying to comprehend what he had said.

"You were joking, right?" she asked a few minutes later when they reached her apartment building. Uta paused and looked at her.

"Was I?" he asked, and Shi suddenly found that his permanent smile was definitely intended to fluster her at that moment. Shi blew at her bangs in frustration.

"Fine then, goodnight, Uta-san." and she entered her building without getting her answer. Outside, Uta looked after her through the glass doors and as she disappeared into the elevator, he found himself actually thinking about the dinner. And when he came to the conclusion it had actually felt like a date, he put a hand to his neck.

And there it was, the racing pulse.

Uta ignored it, after all, a human is a human and a Ghoul is a Ghoul.

He walked down the street with his mind not leaving the human he had just left. Perhaps, Uta concluded, a friendship with a human wouldn't be so bad after all.

* * *

**Thanks to the following for reviewing:**

**MaxBacon**


	6. Fear

**A Masked Secret**

_Chapter 6_

_Fear_

* * *

It was several days later when Uta and Shi met again, this time completely on accident. It was night and Shi's week had been rough, tempting her to head to a bar. She had chosen a random bar in the fourteenth ward (After all, her office building was in this ward) and had been surprised to see the familiar half shaved ponytail that Uta had. She recognized the back of Uta, and slid into the bar stool beside him.

"-Hell's Angel, savior of the weak." the bartender had been saying to Uta before she caught sight of Shi and quieted down. Despite Shi's perception she didn't notice the interest the red haired bartender took in her.

"Hello Uta-san!" she greeted. Uta, who had smelled the familiar aroma that Shi carried, raised his glass that was filled with what suspiciously looked like water to Shi in greeting to her. He looked from Shi to the bartender upon noticing the bartender's eyes looking between the two in suspicion and curiosity. Then, a light seemed to brighten her eyes as she came to a conclusion.

"U-chan!" the bartender squealed, "Have you found a girlfriend?" Shi looked at the bartender in surprise. She had an air of beauty around her with long wavy red hair and deep red eyes. Her skin was fair and free of any blemishes and the corset of her black dress pushed out her ample chest. She was definitely a friend of Uta's, Shi decided. She gave off an air of confidence and her dark appearance mixed well with Uta's calm, sullen look.

"Ah, no, just a friend." Shi spoke up, smiling at the bartender.

"U-chan?" the bartender prodded. Uta looked at the bartender and nodded.

Huffing, the red head turned to Shi, "I'm Itori, U-chan's friend, and a bartender here. What can I get you?"

"Mm, something light. Surprise me. And you can call me Shi." Shi politely nodded her head to the bartender. Itori quickly mixed a drink with three unlabeled bottles and passed it to Shi. Shi sipped it, swirling the drink around her mouth in attempt to isolate a taste and figure out what it was. Uta sniffed the air and was able to determine what Itori had mixed. Itori must have been doubting her sense of smell, Uta noticed. She had mixed a simple beverage that she used to determine humans from Ghouls. It was mild and watered down so that Ghouls would find it mildly disgusting rather than it being like drinking poison.

"It's good. Fruity." Shi complimented, which sealed her fate as a human to Itori. Itori sent Uta a curious and slightly suspicious look when Shi had closed her eyes while laughing about trying to figure out what was in the drink. Shi finished the drink and casually spoke in low tones with Uta, not that Itori's excellent hearing couldn't pick up what was said. Much to her boredom, it was simple teasing with a bit of art and dry humor mixed in. Itori was about to write her off, when the aroma hit her.

"Son of a bitch!" Shi put her thumb in her mouth, glaring at the sharp edge of the counter. Itori quickly turned her head as she felt her hunger awaken and her eyes turn to their kakugan. She excused herself, swapping with another Ghoul who was working in the back. As she stared into the mirror she found herself wondering why the hell Uta was friends with a human whose blood smelled so delicious that even just smelling it could force her eyes to change.

Uta, who was right beside Shi when she sliced her finger open, tensed as his hunger suddenly awakened with vigor. Uta wanted nothing more than to suddenly tear into her as her blood smelled greater than any blood he had ever smelled before. Fighting his instinct, Uta watched as Shi sucked on her thumb and wiped the side of the counter that she had slid her finger along a minute earlier. Uta scanned the bar and found several Ghouls with their attention on the pair.

"Shi-san, would you like to come back to my studio?" Uta offered, hoping she would agree. These Ghouls would hopefully recognize that he had just claimed her.

"Sure, that'd be better than getting smashed." agreed Shi. She stood and Uta frowned when he noticed a Ghoul leave just as they were. This was going to end in a fight, Uta realized. Not just a fight, but Shi finding out he was a Ghoul.

His heart tightened at the thought and his mind ran wild. His thoughts led to how she would react, would she scream and fear him? Run away and forever hate him? Reveal him to the CCG? He stopped, Shi walking into his back and asking him if he was okay. Uta had only had a sudden realization. An epiphany it could even be labeled.

Uta didn't want to lose Shi.

"Shi-san, do you fear Ghouls?" he asked. Shi found the question to be sudden, yet oddly in place as they were walking through a dark alley in a dangerous ward.

Uta was surprised when Shi shook her head, "No."

"Weren't you attacked by one?"

Shi laughed as if he had told a joke.

"Uta-san, there are worse things than Ghouls out there, don't you think?" Uta looked at her curiously, "After all, something isn't born evil. It's created."

Uta and Shi made it to his shop without incident, a surprise for Uta. That Ghoul leaving as they were had seemed to be too sudden to be a coincidence.

But Uta gladly accepted it, as it let him have Shi for just a bit longer.

Uta let Shi into his living area where she dropped her bag by the door. Now that their relationship had further progressed, Shi found herself to be much more comfortable in Uta's home. She laid back on his bed, enjoying the smell of the blankets. They smelled of iron and materials, just like Uta.

Uta eyed his kitchen to check for blood or leftovers quickly while Shi was making herself at home on his bed. When his keen eyes didn't catch anything he looked over at Shi. Her eyes were closed and her body relaxed.

It hit Uta like getting hit by a bus.

She trusted him.

With this new found revelation, Uta cautiously took a seat on his bed beside her. Her eyes parted slightly and she looked at him through her long eyelashes. Uta found this to be a good moment to start conversation.

"What kind of worse things do you think are out there, Shi-san?" Uta inquired, breaking the calm silence that overcame the two of them.

"Hm?" Shi's eyes opened fully and she sat up so she could look into Uta's dark glasses, "Well, don't you ever wonder what Ghouls evolved from? Or what made them?"

"No." Uta's reply was simple and flat, but his tone had the slightest bit of curiosity that Shi continued.

"Ghouls don't scare me like other things. Evil things scare me, and contrary to popular belief, and I'm sorry if this goes against your view on Ghouls, but Ghouls aren't born evil. They're conditioned to be evil, or seen as evil. A Ghoul is like a human in which it's a superior animal. We humans eat animals, those Ghouls eat us humans. Humans and Ghouls are both types of evolved animals, humans are food. Ghouls are food. Animals are food. We all die at some point, after all. So no, Ghouls do not scare me, Uta-san."

Shi finished her entire explanation, that Uta had found turned into a rant at some point, with a deep exhale and a frown marring her usual smile. Uta found her perspective to be very enlightening and free. It was... bold. Or perhaps non-biased was a better word. Ghouls thought Ghouls were superior after all, and humans thought the same of humans. They didn't see themselves as just part of a food chain.

"What do you fear, Uta-san?" Shi's question broke Uta's thoughts, and he sat there for a moment. What did Uta fear? He wasn't quite sure himself, he was a free spirit. He went with the flow of things and whatever happened, happened. He didn't really have anything he feared, he lived life as it went. He just wanted things to be interesting.

Then, similarly to her trusting him, a thought hit him like he had been hit by a large truck, this truck even larger than a bus.

He realized a fear deep within him. He didn't just _want_ to not lose Shi, he_ feared_ losing her. She was just a human though, why did he fear losing her? She was a friend, a source of amusement. Why did he fear losing her?

"Secret." Uta muttered after a moment, turning to look at Shi, "It's my secret." Shi scowled at him, but it was a good-natured scowl.

"Are your eyes a secret too?" Shi asked as she put a finger on his sunglasses. She didn't remove the sunglasses as it wasn't polite.

"Ah, yes." Uta said, putting his own hand to the hand that was just grazing his glasses. Her hand was warm and it was as if he could feel the blood pumping beneath her skin. He could feel his own pulse quickening and he dropped her hand.

"That's okay, want to know one of my secrets?" Shi leaned forward, not giving him a chance to reply, "My eyes are a secret too." She pointed to her eyes, "These are contacts."

And it suddenly made sense why the grey eyes seemed to be so out of place on her. It wasn't her real eye color. But that left the question of what her real eye color was.

"So we both have secrets." Uta felt a sudden weight in his chest at the word "secret". Why was there such a weight behind the word?

"That's not my only secret, but a magician doesn't give away his tricks, yes?" Shi smiled. Uta agreed.

His secret wouldn't be let out, not until the very end. It had to be kept secret, because if it was unmasked then he would lose her.

Uta would not lose her.

* * *

**Thanks to the following for reviewing:**

**MaxBacon (You're so awesome :D)**


	7. Show

**A Masked Secret**

_Chapter 7_

_Show_

* * *

"I'm having a fashion show this weekend." Shi casually mentioned as she tinkered with several of Uta's tools on a camera she had picked up at a thrift shop. Uta had yet to ask what the camera was for.

"Fashion show?" Uta parroted, his eyes peering through the goggles at her while his hands followed the mold of the mask he was working on. Shi was on the stool she had claimed from somewhere in his shop and at the table that had slowly become her work station.

"Yeah, my week day job is at a high end fashion firm. I'm a cosmetologist, and I do a bit of designing myself but anyway, fashion show. I'm allowed a guest, and I was wondering if you wanted to come?" Shi offered as she placed the small hook tool she was using down. Shi doubted that was the tool to be used for what she was doing, but she didn't particularly know what she was doing so it was alright. Uta hadn't protested to her using the tools either, so they wouldn't break on her manipulating the wires and parts of the camera.

"Ah, sure." Uta agreed after a moment of thinking. It was a fashion show, what could go wrong?

"Great!" Shi held up the camera, it was an old fashioned box camera, "Say cheese Uta-san!" Uta gave the camera his usual dead stare as the flash went off, blinding both him and Shi, who shrieked in surprise and excitement.

"Ah too bright!"

Two days later the weekend was upon them and Uta, who had agreed to meet at Shi's apartment at six on Friday night for the fashion show, arrived slightly early. Shi let him in and he sat on her couch, watching her scramble around her apartment like a headless chicken in attempts to get ready. Her white hair was soon tied up in a bun with her bangs curling gently around her face and her makeup was done with every ounce of cosmetics done with perfection. She had a dark purple-blue pencil skirt with a black blouse and a matching suit jacket that was undone but ironed to perfection. Her boots were replaced with black heels and her long legs were left for the word to see from her knees down.

"Alright, ready Uta-san?" Shi finally asked after she grabbed her usual black bag that was overflowing with papers and Uta knew that god damned camera was in there. He had been blinded several times by it and was ready to make the camera disappear mysteriously. It also didn't help Shi's favorite subject was him.

"Ah yes." Uta nodded and they walked to the fashion show. Upon arriving already there was a long line to get inside, flashing lights from cameras and many different odors and noises that had Uta's head almost spinning. He closed out his sense of smell (Too much perfume and cologne caused headaches), but found he missed the aroma that Shi gave off even through the scent of perfume she had added to herself.

Shi got them in through a side entrance by showing a large security guard her ID card and then when the guard was skeptical of Uta, Shi put the guard into his place with a severe tongue lashing that must have felt like ice to the poor guard.

"It's a pretty big show, so everyone's tense." Shi informed Uta as they walked through the halls, passing by busy people who had little care for Uta. They did however notice Shi.

"Kao-san, Mishima-san needs you!"

"Kao-san, do you want coffee?"

"Miss Kao-san Toki-chan refuses to have her makeup done by anyone except you!"

Uta was surprised at how composed Shi was. She didn't so much as twitch when several people came running to her with issues that only she could fix. She gave quick orders and sent people running when common sense could have easily fixed the issue. By the end, her eyebrow was beginning to twitch so very slightly Uta doubted anyone else would have noticed.

"You're popular." Uta observed after what felt like hours of people surging to Shi. Shi sighed and tucked her bangs behind her ears in response.

"It's tiring, I hate it."

"Five minutes!" a stage hand called. Shi grinned broadly at the words and she looked at Uta, grabbing his wrist and pulling him through a hallway and out into the roped off VIP area. She slid into a comfortable velvet chair, patting the seat next to her for Uta. Uta slid into it, observing the surroundings passively.

"It's funny, Uta-san. You'd fit right in with Reiko." Shi commented, pointing to a tan woman with her blonde hair cut short and dyed with greens and reds. Her eyes were a stark coal black and her ears had many hoops crawling down them.

"Why does she not dress like you?" questioned Uta as his eyes raked over her black tank top that stopped just below her ribs and her low cut jeans. A bellybutton ring hung for all to see.

"She's a well known designer, she can get away with whatever she wants." answered Shi when Reiko's eyes caught Uta's and she made a beeline for them when she found Shi sitting next to him.

"Finally someone who doesn't have a pole so far up their ass it's coming out their mouth!" cried Reiko, slipping down into Shi's lap which caused Uta to regard the two with interest.

"I appreciate the fact that I don't have a pole up my ass, thank you." Shi nodded before gesturing to Uta, "This is Uta-san, a friend of mine."

"I like him." announced Reiko before she leaned forward so she was almost nose to nose with Uta, "You have my approval. Shi-shi-chan can hold liquor pretty fucking well so go get her all the vodka you can. Sake won't cut it with her."

"Reiko!" hissed Shi, her cheeks dusted pink beneath the layer of foundation. Uta noticed but didn't comment.

"Shush Shi-shi-chan, I'm giving your buddy dirty intentions." Reiko waved a dangerous hand in Shi's face, her long white nails sharpened to a point. Uta, a sinking suspicion in his gut, lightly sniffed Reiko. Underneath the smell of musky alcohol was the distinct smell that a Ghoul carried.

Reiko was a Ghoul.

And when she regarded Uta with wide, excited eyes, Uta knew she could smell he was a Ghoul as well.

"I'm Uta." Uta greeted Reiko after a moment where she had her eyes fixated on Shi.

"Watanabi Reiko." she replied quickly, her attention turning to the stage when the main lights started to dim. She sunk to the floor, removing her person from Shi's lap. Shi fixed her blouse and jacket immediately after Reiko had vacated her person.

"Welcome to the Tenkaharu Industry's Monthly Fashion show!" boomed a speaker, and Uta watched the first two models before his eyes drifted to Shi. Shi looked how Uta felt, her eyes were drooping and her teeth chewing on her bottom lip slightly. Her hands were folded in her lap but her thumbs were fidgeting and her legs crossed to prevent her from moving. She was attempting to hide her disinterest, which was more polite than Reiko. Reiko, on the floor, wasn't even paying attention. She was more focused on a game on her phone.

Two more models later and Uta was tracing Shi's form with his eyes, memorizing every little detail about her. Her eyes hadn't left the models yet, so Uta was taking her distraction as a chance to openly stare without her noticing. Of course, his sunglasses allowed him to hide it better, his head angled towards the runway partly.

"Pretty, right?" Reiko suddenly asked over the loud music. Shi hummed a noise of agreement without even looking at Reiko. Reiko was looking at Uta when she said this, obviously taking note of his interest in the white haired woman. Reiko turned back to her phone after a moment of staring and what felt like a hundred models went by before anything else interesting occurred.

"This is my model." Shi suddenly spoke up, "Cosmetics, costume and all."

"You used Toki-chan? She's so fickle and annoying." Reiko complained, scrunching her nose up as the foreign beauty strut across the stage. Toki's long dark brown curls were held up in ringlets that allowed her hair to fan around her like a halo. It was a bold move, considering her curly, unruly hair but after putting enough hairspray in her hair to stick a brick to a wall, Shi had managed to get the hairstyle to stay put. Toki was half Japanese and half Spanish, but nothing about her other than her slightly narrowed eyes suggested her origins. Her skin was a deep Spanish tan and her eyes such a dark brown they appeared black.

The design of her clothes were phenomenal in Uta's opinion. Her dress was just as bold as the ringlets, the dress long with a slit up one leg. The back of the dress opened up at her lower back and the bottom was attached by a series of two wraps. Both started from the front on either side of her belly button before it crossed up and around her middle before wrapping up around her breasts and coming together behind her neck. Her shoes were simple tall sandals that resembled geta but made no sound as she walked. The dress was pure white and the shoes the same. Toki's face was decorated with red painted lips and surprising silver and white accents on her eye shadow. Shi had taken a chance, Uta realized.

But that chance had turned out better than the rest he had seen so far.

"What is your fascination with wraps?" demanded Reiko, "Last month you had a single wrap and this month two. One day your design's going to backfire with all this skin showing and your model's going to lose a flap and flash everyone."

"No, I'm cautious. I always test the design out by wearing it around my home for a few days. That dress will hang on if you flip over a couch with it." Shi casually leaned back in her chair to hide her smugness. Reiko snickered as the next model came out with a less than pleased look to be the follow up for an obvious crowd favorite.

In the end, Shi's dress received special mention but nothing too impressive. Reiko's designs, three of five to be exact, were given the spotlight. Each was designed not as bold as Shi's, but decently bold with punk origins and inspiration behind each outfit.

"After party, Shi-shi-chan?" Reiko suggested before waggling her eyebrows, "Or is tall, dark and handsome here going to be bringing you back to something special? Hmmmm?" Shi sighed at Reiko.

"Can you like, not?" Shi leaned in to Reiko, "Seriously quit it. Uta-san is right fucking there!"

Uta of course, had hearing beyond that of a humans and could hear every word that both of them said. Reiko, who knew this, only smiled at Shi.

"But Shi-shi-chaaaaan." whined Reiko.

"No. And we'll maybe stop by for a few minutes. I might grab a drink and use the bathroom before heading home. I'd let you have Uta-san while I hit the bathroom but I don't need you tainting him." Reiko put a hand to her heart and gave Shi a hurt expression. It was obviously fake, and Shi simply poked her, gave her the command to not taint the poor man, and headed to the open bar. Or bathroom. Whichever she was stopping at first.

"We're going to have a little chat outside, yes Uta-san?" Reiko asked sweetly, leading the uncaring yet prepared man outside. They slid into an alley and Reiko ripped off the sunglasses perched on Uta's nose, revealing his kakugan.

"You're the mask maker." Reiko said to herself in slight disbelief, "What the fuck are you doing with Kao Shi?" Uta didn't answer, unsure of the answer himself. After all, Ghouls and humans didn't have friendships. It wasn't acceptable, right?

"If you lay a hand on her, I will kill you. I'll kill you right now if I have to." Reiko almost snarled the words, and her black orbs rippled into the kakugan.

"You sound as if... you care for her." Uta chose his words carefully, his manipulative tendencies coming into play, "Are you friends? With a... human?" Reiko narrowed her eyes at him.

"Yes, as a matter of fact I am."

Uta smiled at her with his usual pleasant, neutral expression, "Then there are no issues. I am her friend as well."

"No, there is an issue here." Reiko shook her head, "Can you control your hunger around her?" Uta went to answer but Reiko continued, "Uta-san, you surely noticed but Shi smells different. She smells like something you'd find the gourmets chasing after like rabid dogs. And with the way your relationship looks... if you can even control that hunger now, it's going to get worse."

"I control my hunger." Uta stated, his voice firm and more serious than he had been in the longest time. Reiko looked him in the eyes. Her kakugan faded to show the dark orbs of her normal irises.

"I still stand on my statement. You hurt her, and I kill you." Reiko promised.

Uta smiled, "The same for you, Reiko-san."

* * *

**Thanks to the following for reviewing:**

**MaxBacon **  
**Savinda**


	8. Overpowering

**A Masked Secret**

_Chapter 8_

_Overpowering _

* * *

"Uta-san! Reiko!" Shi called to the two when she found them across the party after stopping at the bar twice and the bathroom once. Shi, who had asked for a light drink, found her world was getting a bit tipsy. She gave her drink a suspicious glance. It hardly tasted like alcohol and Shi had a pretty good tolerance.

"Excuse me, Kao-san?" Shi turned upon hearing her name. Uta and Reiko both started to weave through the crowd of finely dressed people and kept their eyes on Shi. Shi had a drink in one hand and her other hand was rising to greet them when she turned suddenly.

"Shi-shi-chan!" called Reiko, but the noise of the party was too loud and they were too far. Shi was lost in the crowd after a moment and Reiko sniffed the air.

"Uta-san, how good is your nose?" Reiko asked as they reached where Shi had been moments before. Uta sniffed the air and wrinkled his nose at the smell of alcohol and many perfumes.

"I can smell another Ghoul here." Reiko supplied, "And Shi-shi-chan's smell is covered in booze and that Ghoul's scent."

"Find her." Uta started off in the direction he had seen Shi going towards last.

Shi was being led out a side door and her fuzzy mind was trying to find the sense in the situation. She stumbled over her feet and fell to her knees at the base of the stairs. Shi leaned against the wall and placed her forehead against the cool brick. Suddenly her senses were coming back and she turned to look up at the person who brought her outside.

'Idontknowwhothatis.'

Her mind was jumbled as she reached for her bag, desperate to find something to help the situation. Then, the woman looming above her grinned down at Shi with a feral grin and her eyes spun from an average brown to a deep red kakugan.

'I'mgoingtodieifIdon'tdosomething.'

And she sloppily (The world was spinning a bit) threw herself to the side to avoid a hand that reached for her chest. Her heart. Her blood. Her meat.

Painpainpainpainpain.

There was only red.

Uta smelled the blood from inside and pushed through the crowd. He pushed out the heavy side door and stopped when blood greeted him. Blood was everywhere and he almost fell to his knees, thinking that he was too late to save Shi. Then a shadow fell over him and he looked up, a figure silhouetted by the moon looking down at him. A feathery mask was outlined around their face and a single pure black eye stared down at him with a serpentine slit red pupil.

"She's safe." the masked figure told him, and Uta saw the body in the figures arms. A feminine body with long hair half ripped from what looked like a bun.

Shi.

Shi was alive.

Reiko barged out the door behind Uta and stopped at the sight. She followed Uta's gaze and gasped. The masked figure was suddenly gone and Uta looked to Reiko.

"That was Hell's Angel." whispered Reiko, her kakugan covered eyes looking to him, "She's a Ghoul who saves humans and Ghouls from other Ghouls and doves. She started appearing a month or two ago."

Uta vividly recalled Itori telling him about Hell's Angel at the bar before Shi had happened to come upon them.

_"U-chan, be careful. There's a new Ghoul in the 4th ward." warned Itori, leaning over the counter so she could whisper low enough that of the Ghouls in the bar, only Uta would hear._

_"New Ghoul?" Uta had replied, uncaring. Itori nodded and sent another bartender to a customer who called for her._

_"Yeah, I've only heard rumors but she's tough."_

_Uta almost laughed, "I'm the strongest in the ward." Itori's lip twitched at Uta's arrogance._

_"Were. You were the strongest. You left the Clowns and are what, some kind of pacifist now?" Itori was reaching dangerous territory in the conversation and the sarcasm that laced her words wasn't helping her._

_"No." Uta shook his head as a familiar scent hit him, "I never left. Simply haven't come back yet. I kill humans for food as much as you do, Itori." Itori's smile widened._

_"Tell me about this Ghoul." Uta ordered with forcefulness Itori hadn't heard from him in years. Itori found herself getting excited over Uta's change in tone._

_"She's strong and showed up recently. She was labeled as Hell's Angel because she has a feathery mask and saves "victims" from doves and Ghouls. Ironic isn't it, her name?" Uta took notice of a familiar smell getting extremely close, "She's some sort of guardian angel for humans and weak Ghouls. Pathetic. Hell's Angel, savior of the weak." Itori cut herself off when Shi slid onto the stool beside Uta._

_"Hello Uta-san!"_

The smell of Shi's overpowering blood covered the alley like a cloud of noxious gas that eliminated the possibility of Reiko or Uta finding any other scent and the two Ghouls left with Uta leading them to Shi's apartment.

Reiko, who was more knowledgeable than Uta on the topic, began to describe Hell's Angel to Uta. From what had been gathered by witnesses and victims, Hell's Angel saved those who would fall victim to a dove or a Ghoul. They would be found unconscious or barely conscious at their home with nothing out of the ordinary later. Most victims at least, some were left at hospitals or left somewhere they would be safe. Those were the ones who didn't have ID on them with addresses or were injured badly enough to need the hospital.

Uta found Hell's Angel to be ironic and ridiculous. A Ghoul with empathy was a dead Ghoul. He came to the conclusion that eventually Hell's Angel would find herself against someone like himself or Jason or several doves rather than just one or two, and that would be the end of the savior of the weak. After all, what strong Ghoul would save the lesser Ghouls?

When they arrived at Shi's apartment Reiko picked her front door's lock ("What if I'm ever kidnapped and need to escape?" Reiko had unnecessarily defended herself) and once they entered the smell of iron hit them like a truck. Leading from an open window bloody footprints led to Shi's bathroom where inside Shi was laid against the wall. The white tiles were now smudged with blood and Shi was tying a bandage around her shoulder. Already it was starting to stain through with the liquid that was causing Uta and Reiko's hungers to rise.

"I can't stay here, too much of her blood and damn that smells good." Reiko whispered to Uta before stepping back out of the apartment. Uta, whose hunger was almost physically paining him, slowly made his way to the bathroom. Shi looked up when he reached the door.

"Hey, Uta-san." she panted without questioning how he knew where she was, "Do you know what happened? I remember a Ghoul, then only red." Uta assumed she was out of it and disoriented. Perhaps she assumed he had carried her back?

"You were saved by Hell's Angel." Uta answered as he knelt beside Shi. He went against his rational mind and touched the bandage on her shoulder. Her body was warm and beneath the bandage he could feel the pumping of her blood. It took all of Uta's will power to not rip into her shoulder and taste the blood that smelled so inviting to him. Shi was sitting there, weak and already injured, as if she were on a platter for him.

The thought was tempting, it was almost consuming. But Uta's rational mind fought the instinct, his body yearned for her blood and meat but his mind screamed for Shi as a living being. Shi found the strength to stand with Uta's support and he led her to her futon. Shi tried to refuse his help but Uta simply didn't respond and ignored her protests.

Uta got Shi to lay still on her futon after she felt the fatigue of walking hit her and he sat beside her. Shi grabbed his hand, surprising Uta. She looked at him, "Uta-san, thank you for caring." with those words it occurred to Uta that she hadn't spoken to him about family at all, or even other friends. He had only just now met Reiko, and while Reiko was perfectly at ease with Shi, it seemed Shi only had a work friendship with Reiko. The friendship was only there tentatively because it was convenient.

Uta found himself wondering, did Shi have other friends? A family? Or was she as alone as he was?

"I am glad to care for you, Shi-san." Uta demurred. Shi blinked at him, then gave a warm smile.

"Just Shi, Uta-san." Uta's eyes widened behind his glasses slightly. He nodded.

"Then just Uta as well."

Shi looked stunning, Uta realized, her radiant smile bright against the crimson blood that stained her.

More than stunning.

She was what his body yearned for, something that Uta's instinct called her.

Shi looked absolutely tasty, and it was temptation that dared Uta. He squeezed her hand, as if to remind himself that it was Shi there and not a succulent piece of meat. But that temptation was almost overpowering, it was so close to taking over him Uta felt his body almost begin to tremble.

"I'll be fine, don't worry about me." Shi told him as she felt him squeeze her hand. Uta nodded as her voice brought his senses back and he removed his hand from hers despite how everything seemed to get colder. Uta left when his hunger started to consume his mind again, but not before making sure Shi would be able to survive.

When Uta was walking back to his shop, Reiko fell into step beside him. They walked in silence until they reached his shop. It was Reiko, unsurprisingly, who broke the silence.

"Uta-san, now do you say you can control your hunger?" she inquired. Uta nodded despite how his body, even now, still yearned for him to rip into Shi.

Reiko looked at him with an unsure expression, "I don't believe you, but you aren't bloody so she's fine for now." Reiko turned to leave, but paused. If it wasn't for Uta's hearing being beyond a human's, he wouldn't have heard what she said. Uta doubted Reiko realized he heard her, as she seemed to be used to human hearing limitations.

"Perhaps the hunger you feel isn't only the hunger for food?"

* * *

**Thanks to the following for reviewing:**

**SkittleStalker (I like your name)**


	9. Silence

**A Masked Secret**

_Chapter 9_

_Silence_

* * *

Shi visited Uta the day following her injury with her usual petticoat, leggings, boots and black bag. Even her makeup was done to its usual perfection, although her lips were a light pink rather than the blood red they normally were.

"I'm sick of the color red." Shi explained to Uta as she took her usual stool in his shop. Uta looked up from the mask he was working on to examine her. She didn't seem to be dying anymore so he felt slight relief.

Shi took Uta's stare to be of confusion, so she elaborated, "My bathroom isn't stained with just nail polish anymore. Blood was everywere." Uta understood, but didn't reply. He continued to work on the mask. They sat in a silence that wasn't their usual peaceful silence. This one was tense and heavy. Uta wasn't bothered by the silence, but Shi was. Shi fidgeted on her stool and her fake grey eyes looked between Uta and the mask he was creating. He took notice, but didn't do anything.

Shi was... fragile. Uta knew humans were fragile. But the memory of Shi, covered in blood, was fresh in Uta's memories. Why bring up something like that? But other than that Uta wasn't sure why he couldn't bring himself to talk to Shi. He wasn't angry at her, or annoyed with her. But for some reason Uta's words kept dying in his throat. Even when he peered at her from the corner of her eye he had to look away when he envisioned crimson liquid dribbling down her body and staining the light grey leggings she was wearing.

Despite the tension Shi stayed late into the afternoon and past when she should have left. She stayed after Uta had flipped the shop's sign to Closed. Uta let her into his apartment where she stood, looking around like she was lost.

"Make yourself at home." Uta told her after a moment and Shi blinked at him. Those had been the most words he'd said to her all day. Shi wracked her brain, no, those had been the first words he had said to her all day.

"Have I done something wrong?" Shi asked, tilting her head in question. Slowly Uta shook his head.

"No," Uta drawled out the word, "Nothing."

Shi frowned, "Then why the silence?"

Uta didn't know how to reply. He looked at Shi and opened his mouth to speak when a sudden slamming of a door caught both their attentions. Uta looked at Shi and suddenly his heart almost stopped as he sniffed the air.

A Ghoul.

But not just any Ghoul as the pervasive smell that came with the Ghoul signified only one individual.

"Shi, hide in the bathroom and don't ask questions or listen. No matter what stay in there." Uta ordered,his voice taking on a tone Shi had never heard from Uta. Shi looked like she would argue but the urgency that was in the air made her listen. She gave Uta a clear look that said he would explain later before closing the door on herself. Uta's apartment door opened and footsteps sounded up the stairs until a familiar face reached Uta's vision.

Kuroda Warai was a strong older Ghoul who was the current leader of the Clowns and the founder of the gang. He was built strong with pale skin, a happy face, and dark auburn eyes that were normally hidden by the kakugan. Warai's eyes contrasted with his body as one look into them and danger could be seen. His scent not only reeked of Ghoul, but of sex, blood, and surprisingly, paint.

"Uta," Warai greeted as he circled the apartment, "I spoke with Itori recently."

"What do you want?" Uta drawled, his eyes narrowing on the Ghoul while his mouth pressed into a firm scowl that looked almost neutral. Almost, being a keyword.

"You." Warai answered, running a hand through his flaming ginger hair that was pulled into a short curly ponytail at the base of his neck.

Uta didn't react, keeping his body still, "Me? What for?"

"We'll be putting a plan into motion soon and we need all our best. You still want to live life?" Warai looked to him, waiting for an answer, "No point in living if things aren't interesting..."

Uta mentally finished the sentence as he had heard Warai proclaim it so many times in his teenage years, 'and the ones who get the last laugh are us, the Clowns.'

Uta thought back to his younger days. The Clowns had been exciting and bloody, each member being brutal and insane. But, the Clowns were fun. Each Ghoul had an intention to live their life how they wanted so they could enjoy it. And for the Clowns, most of them lived for chaos, blood, and manipulation. After all, there were many ways of playing with people.

Uta was tempted. He did have his moments where he missed the Clowns. He relieved his sadistic urges on ocassion when he brought back a live human and let them suffer for his meal. But, Uta's mind cleared when he thought back to the human who was currently hiding in his bathroom.

Then, Uta made his fatal mistake.

Uta's eyes made the tiniest of a flicker to look at the bathroom door, and Uta knew immediately he had made an error. The Clowns lived for torture, and not just physical torture, but mental torture. Each one was a master of manipulation and reading someone. Warai instantly looked to the bathroom door after seeing that tiny, barely there glance.

'I've killed her.' Uta realized as Warai slowly, drawing out what he knew to be Uta's mental suffering, sniffed the air and his eyes, already in their kakugan, widened in excitement.

"You have a human in there." he stated, "And not just any human."

Warai sniffed the air again, "She's something that the gourmet's would love. Is she dinner? If so, I think I'll stay awhile."

"If not?" Uta challenged.

Warai smiled, "I'll have fun with her, she's just a human after all."

Uta didn't allow himself to tense, hoping Warai would lose interest. His hopes died as Warai walked to the bathroom. In the silence of the room, all that could be heard was the steps that Warai's dress shoes made against the wooden floor.

"Are you going to fight me over this human?" Warai asked as he rested a hand on the doorknob of the bathroom door. Uta stayed silent in hopes that Warai would leave the door alone if Uta didn't give a reaction. Warai thrived off reactions and giving none would be the best bet.

"Pushing the limit, as you always have, Uta." Warai laughed before his hand wrapped around the doorknob and he swung the door open.

Shi, who had only heard murmurs through the door, felt her heart almost stop as the door slammed open suddenly. Shi looked up as a man with ginger hair, a ridiculous shiny yellow suit and kakugan that conveyed his intentions of torture, met her eyes.

Shi's heart sped up considerably as she realized a Ghoul stood before her. And with the flamboyance that he radiated, she knew he was cocky. He was strong then. But, what about Uta?

Was he dead?

"Leave her alone." Uta's voice called, his normal tone replaced with something so menacing yet so eerily calm that goosebumps raced up and down Shi's body.

"Or what? You'll kill me?" Warai looked over his shoulder to laugh.

"Yes." Uta said, "I will." Warai grabbed Shi by her arm (Luckily the uninjured one) and dragged her out, holding her off the ground. Her eyes were wide as she looked at Uta who stood so calmly that she wondered if he was just going to let this Ghoul kill her.

"I didn't leave her alone." Warai challenged, shaking Shi around, "Why don't I have a little snack before leaving?" He went to bite into Shi's arm, and Shi, a fighter at heart, brought her elbow down on the Ghoul's nose. Warai dropped her and she landed on her feet, sprinting towards the door before realizing Uta hadn't ran with her.

"Uta!" she called, eyes wide. Uta gave her his usual smile.

"I'll hold him back for you," his voice was a simple calm but still laced with that dangerous intent, "Run, Shi."

Laughter suddenly spilled from Warai as he threw her head back, ignoring his bloody nose. His laughter finished after a moment and he tilted his head to look at Uta with a mocking grin, "You've gone soft! It's time to show you how to be a Ghoul again!"

Shi's eyes widened a fraction as kagune rippled out of Warai's lower back and his words hit her like a speeding bus. Two tails reached out of Warai's back, each glowing in orange and yellow. They appeared like blades and then struck out with one at Uta and one at Shi.

"Uta!" Shi screamed, gasping when Uta was suddenly in front of her. Uta wrapped his arms around Shi and pulled them to the side, the strike from the tail brushing Uta's face.

There was a shatter as Uta's goggles were broken almost in half and knocked from his head. Uta pushed Shi back into the stairway and Shi caught herself on the rail. Her eyes met Uta's for a moment and she found herself staring into a pair of kakugan just like the ones belonging to the Ghoul trying to kill her.

"You're... a Ghoul." she whispered as Uta disappeared under speed that humans couldn't match. Uta appeared behind Warai and his fist cleaved through his chest. Uta's once pale hands were now stained with blood while a puddle started to form on the floor. Both Ghouls stood there, neither seeming to care as blood dribbled down from Warai's chest.

"Still impressive, I see." Warai chuckled, "I see you still don't use your kagune." Warai's kagune receded and then came up, aimed for Uta's body. Uta took the hit, the kagune ripping through his stomach as Uta wrapped his hands around Warai's neck. Uta's blood painted the wall behind him as the kagune came to a stop just before reaching the edge of the room.

"So you didn't dodge." Warai noted, his hands reaching up and meeting Uta's. A power of strength began between their hands while Warai's kagune pulled out of Uta, splattering more blood on the wooden floor beneath them. The tails disappeared back into Warai and didn't emerge again.

"That human over there, she knows your face. She'll report you to the CCG. You're dead if she isn't." Warai cackled, "Let's just kill her. She smells good. You know she does!"

"I don't like it when others try and take away my interests." Uta stated, and Warai's cackle came to an end as Uta used his full strength to break through Warai's hands and rip through his throat.

"You're still a monster!" Warai gurgled with some issue due to his throat being ripped open, "Your bare hands can go through even the skin of a Ghoul!"

"You've started to bore me." Uta drawled before ripping through the remainder of Warai's neck. Warai's head dropped to the floor with his expression now forever left in a crazed laugh. His body followed after a moment, the muscle making a loud thump as it hit with all it's weight. Uta looked at the mess in his apartment, briefly glad Warai had doubted his skill or else their fight would have destroyed the building, before he walked towards the stairs. Uta moved slower than usual with his slowly closing wound. He was surprised to find Shi still sitting there, and briefly wondered if the gaping hole in his stomach would scare her.

"You're still here?" Uta questioned. Shi nodded before shakily getting to her feet. She eyed his stomach but didn't say anything, rather her eyes met his. She didn't flinch back when he moved like he expected. Nor did she scream and run away.

"Unless you magically became a Ghoul right now, you've been a Ghoul the entire time I've known you." Shi's voice was even and calm despite what she had just witnessed, "If you were going to kill me, I'd be dead. I've slept in your bed."

Uta tilted his head to the side in surprise and amusement, "You're an odd human, Shi."

Shi stuck out her tongue, "And you're a weird Ghoul, Uta."

For both of them somehow the situation felt... right.

Like they belonged.

* * *

**Thanks to the following for reviewing:**

**SkittleStalker  
MaxBacon**


	10. Perfect

**A Masked Secret**

_Chapter 10_

_Perfect_

* * *

Shi followed Uta back into his apartment and looked at the body with interest. Blood was seeping into the cracks between the wooden floor and Uta looked at the mess with annoyance.

"It's rude to die in someone else's home." Uta told Shi, "They have to clean up the blood." Shi laughed despite the situation. It was odd, how easily Shi had adapted to Uta being a Ghoul. She hadn't screamed, yelled, or been in disbelief. She had simply looked at him with unclouded eyes and logically deduced that she'd already be dead if he wanted her dead.

"You should probably get rid of the corpse before worrying about the blood." Shi demurred as she stepped around the puddle of blood and picked up the broken goggles that Uta had hid his eyes behind.

Uta didn't answer, rather he lifted the corpse with ease (His stomach wound was already healing quickly) and searched it's pockets. He put items of interest on his kitchen counter before he dragged it down the stairs with the intentions of leaving it in an alley for someone to find.

While Uta was getting rid of the body Shi found a mop in a closet downstairs and started to soak up the blood. When Uta returned, Shi had finished getting the puddle and splatters but had yet to figure out what to do about the stained wood.

"Hide it under a rug?" suggested Shi. Uta, who didn't really want to clean the blood stains, pulled an extra rug out of the closet and placed it over the puddle. It was a bit out of place, but he'd find something to do about it later. His biggest issue was Shi, who was leaning against the wall and staring at the rug with her eyes unfocused. She was obviously deep in thought.

"So, you're the one who makes all the Ghouls their masks then." concluded Shi, "And it's also why you wouldn't let me go in your fridge. Something growing in there my ass." Uta didn't reply, rather, he looked at Shi closely. Her fake grey eyes looked back and she raised an eyebrow.

"You know my secret," Uta pointed out, "But I don't know yours."

She laughed, "As I said, a magician never gives away his tricks."

"Uta, when you asked if I feared Ghouls..." Shi trailed off, "Was that because I was bleeding in the bar and you thought I was in danger? And that if a Ghoul came after me, you'd have to protect me?" Uta had to give Shi credit, she was perceptive and logical.

Uta thought about how to answer, but he found that the earnest look in her eyes pulled out the truth before he could censor it, "I didn't want to lose you."

Uta was surprised when Shi wrapped her arms around him in a hug. He didn't put his hands around her, not because he wasn't sure what to do but because his hands were still covered in blood. Shi looked up at him and smiled, "Thank you."

"For what?" Uta asked.

"For caring."

And Uta remembered his thoughts the previous night on how she didn't talk about friends and family.

"Your family..." inquired Uta, "Don't they care?"

Shi let go of him, "You need a family for them to care."

"Friends?" Uta added.

"I'm a loner, friends are hard to come by and many have left me. But you didn't, not yet at least." The pessimistic bite in her words had Uta feel slight anger in his body at those who had left her.

"I won't."

"Promise?"

"Yes."

Shi found herself believe him, an odd thing for her. She sat on Uta's bed while Uta washed his hands in the sink. He looked at his stomach and figured washing it while he was still injured would do nothing. While the gaping hole was gone his skin was still ripped open and bleeding slowly.

"You heal fast, do all Ghouls heal that fast?" Shi questioned when Uta turned and walked towards her.

"No, I heal faster." Uta answered, sitting on the bed next to her. Shi examined his wound before sighing.

"I don't care if you're a Ghoul, I'm wrapping that. Do you have a first aid kit?" Shi stood before Uta replied.

"Bathroom mirror." Uta told her when she started towards it. She returned a moment later with bandages and a disinfectant. Uta briefly wondered when he had gotten those and why he had gotten them. Uta could easily mend his own wound, but it healed quickly on its own and Shi seemed determined to wrap it.

"Shirt off." demanded Shi when she sat down next to him. Uta gave her his usual smile, but if you asked Shi she would say it looked more like a grin in that moment.

"Reiko said I'd have to get you drunk first." he teased. Shi's eyes narrowed.

"If you weren't sitting there with a gaping hole in your stomach I'd hit you. Now, shirt off." Uta complied with Shi's order, pulling his arms out of his loose black jacket and throwing his ruined tank top over his head. Shi admired the tattoos that ran up Uta's forearms and abdomen as he did so. She also gazed at his surprisingly toned body. Considering Uta was a very lanky individual the fact that he was all muscle was surprising.

"Like what you see?" Uta tilted his head. Shi blushed under her makeup at Uta noticing her appraisal of his body.

"I don't like that hole." she retorted as she grabbed the disinfectant and doused a rag with it before viciously attacking his wound with it. It stung but Uta had felt worse and allowed her to clean it. Then she wrapped his abdomen with heavy bandages and she grinned at Uta.

"That wasn't so bad, was it?" she asked cheekily, a smile taking up her lips.

Uta found in that moment, he couldn't take his eyes off Shi. Shi was really something amazing. She was a human who despite watching him kill another Ghoul with his bare hands, sat next to him and tended to his wounds while joking with him. Her smell was still intoxicating but not only she did smell wonderful but she looked so. Her body was petite and small, much smaller than Uta's and Uta wasn't a large man. He knew beneath her coat she had art that covered her and he knew that beneath that makeup she had to be just as beautiful.

"Shi," Uta began, "What would you do if a Ghoul made an advance on you?"

"What kind of advance?" she retorted, "It also depends on the Ghoul."

Uta looked into the fake grey eyes and he felt like he couldn't tear himself away. Shi looked into Uta's eyes and found that his eyes still didn't leave the black and red of the kakugan.

"Are your eyes always like that?" she asked in a whisper, putting her hand to his face as if to make sure he was real. She wasn't sure why she did that, but once she did something seemed to be set in motion.

Uta's head dipped in towards hers and she found herself raising her own head to meet his. Their noses touched and Uta could smell her easily now, her intoxicating aroma entering his nose and making his pulse start to run wild. But perhaps it wasn't just her smell that did that, perhaps it was how Uta couldn't stop looking into her eyes.

"I think I know what I would do." she said, her voice low and barely above a whisper. And with that, Uta pushed the thoughts in his mind away about how he was a Ghoul and she was a human, and he closed the space between them.

Shi felt their lips meet and her eyes closed, shortly after Uta's followed suit. They sat there in their own forever, Shi's soft lips against Uta's. Uta's lip ring took a moment to get used to, but noting deterred Shi from finding that the kiss just felt... right.

Uta didn't taste like blood, rather he had a charming taste that Shi just couldn't describe. For Uta, Shi tasted like nothing he had tasted before. She didn't taste like the human meat that he tore into and devoured in his hunger. She tasted so utterly perfect that when they separated, Uta wanted to lean in again. But he restrained himself to see what Shi would do.

"You kiss pretty good, practice much?" Shi asked after a moment of composing herself. She grinned at him when he tilted his head.

"You as well, I think we both need a little more practice though." Shi laughed at Uta's way of suggesting more before she leaned in.

_"Perhaps the hunger you feel isn't only the hunger for food?"_

* * *

**Thanks to the following for reviewing:**

**SkittleStalker**


	11. Fight or Flight

**A Masked Secret**

_Chapter 11_

_Fight or Flight_

* * *

Shi leaned her head on her hand as she doodled in her sketchbook. She was sitting in her cubicle in the industry office of Tenkaharu Industry, bored as she was cut from the design program for that month. Shi thought it was complete bullshit she had been cut after her dress had been a crowd favorite, but sadly her boss didn't take kindly to her stylistic preferences.

"Shi-shi-chaaaaaaaan!"

Shi bit the end of her pencil, briefly wondering how Reiko got accepted as a top designer.

"Shi-shi-chaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!"

Shi leaned back in her chair, ignoring Reiko who had sat on her desk. Reiko pouted when Shi didn't respond to her for the second time. Reiko checked her sketchbook and blinked when she found what Reiko had been doodling.

"Are you doing tattoo designs?" Reiko questioned.

"Maybe." Shi answered instantly. Reiko frowned.

"Why didn't you answer when I was calling you?"

Shi smiled, "It's negative reinforcement. I'm training you like a dog. Soon you'll realize I don't respond to 'Shi-shi-chaaaaan' when I'm right next to you and you scream it. Thus you'll stop doing it."

Reiko frowned at being treated like a dog but didn't argue. Reiko did have to admit she'd be annoyed if Shi had been screaming 'Rei-rei-chaaaan' in her ear.

"Who are they for?" inquired Reiko, her dark eyes taking note of Shi blushing beneath the heavy foundation adorning her face.

"Oooooh?" Reiko leaned in to Shi, "Could they possibly be for Uta-san?"

"Maybe." allowed Shi, grabbing the sketchbook from Reiko's hands and shoving it into her black bag. Reiko, who had little decency, pulled out several pictures Shi had scattered around her bag that she had taken with her old obsolete camera.

"You're a stalker, Shi-shi-chan." accused Reiko upon finding the top few were all Uta.

"Don't go through those!" Shi, who had never had a temper, yelped while ripping them from Reiko's hands. Reiko's eyes widened as she concluded that Shi surely had something lewd in there.

"Shi-shi-chan you naughty girl, do you have porno pictures in there of Uta-san?" Reiko laughed when Shi glared at her.

"No."

Reiko tilted her head while still laughing, "No? Then why can't I look?"

"I said you can't, Reiko."

Now Reiko's interest was peaked. What could Shi have that Reiko couldn't see? Shi was normally a very passive individual. What naughty things did she have in there?

"Fine." Reiko drawled. Shi gave her a suspicious glance, "I'm going back to work, Shi-shi-chan. See ya~"

What felt like forever later, Reiko heard Shi leave her cubicle and Reiko raced into it when Shi turned a corner. Reiko grabbed Shi's bag and pulled out the pictures again, sliding through them.

"No, no, no, no, no, where is the lewdness!?" Reiko whined to herself as she went through the photographs. Reiko became lost in them and so didn't notice Shi return. Shi, who had expected nothing less from Reiko, cleared her throat.

"It's this picture that I'm hiding from you, Reiko." Reiko jumped and turned to find Shi had a single photo held between her middle and pointer finger with the back turned towards Reiko. Like all the pictures the date was on the back of it, and it was the most recent photo having been the day before. Shi peered at the picture and smiled to herself. She was hiding it from Reiko due to the fact she had taken the picture when Uta wasn't wearing his goggles or glasses. Reiko couldn't see his kakugan as then she'd know he's a Ghoul.

"Gimme!" Reiko dove for it and Shi easily stepped to the side and, with no mercy for Reiko, pulled the front of her blouse out and dropped the picture into her shirt.

"You evil woman, too bad I have no shame!" Reiko tackled Shi and reached into her shirt. The two fought, Shi grabbing Reiko's arm and not letting her find the picture nor retract her arm from her shirt. Neither noticed as a blushing male intern and their boss found them.

"Kao-san, Watanabi-san." Both women froze as their boss's ice cold voice spoke to them. They slowly turned to look at the older woman.

"Um, hello, Tenyuku-san." Shi greeted nervously as she slapped Reiko's hand out of her blouse. Shi made sure that Reiko's hand was empty.

"Both of you, I've had enough of you today. Leave." ordered Tenyuku Hare, the company's CEO, owner and founder. Shi grabbed her bag and left quickly. She was halfway to Uta's when Reiko almost caught up with her.

"Shi-shi-chan! Wait up!" Reiko called from across a street as the light changed from red to green, stranding her on the other side of the cars. Shi looked back at her before deciding she'd rather not and she hurried into the alleys to lose Reiko. Reiko frowned when she watched Shi duck into an alley and when the light changed again she hurried into the alley.

She didn't notice the individual who had been tailing her for several days follow behind her. Reiko followed Shi's scent, extremely interested in how she was trying to evade her by twisting through alleys. After all, Reiko was very sure she was on her way to Uta's.

'What is your relationship with Uta-san, Shi-shi-chan?' wondered Reiko.

Reiko laughed, "Hehe, thinks she can outrun me does she?"

"I don't think you should be worrying about chasing someone, Watanabi-san." Reiko turned and all humor drained from her person. A grey suit covered a man's form and in his hand was a silver briefcase. His eyes were light green and his dark brown hair left to fall to his chin. His hair style, much to Reiko's amusement, was similar to her own.

"Can I help you, sir?" Reiko politely inquired, hoping to prevent confrontation.

"Watanabi Reiko-san," the man droned, "My name is Kenmari Rentaro, and you have been found to be a Ghoul."

"Me?" Reiko pointed at herself, "A Ghoul? You're joking, Kenmari-san."

"You were seen feeding on a human last night at one-hundred hours in the fifth ward. I have been sent to terminate you." As he spoke his briefcase opened and morphed into the form of a blue quinque.

"Such arrogance," sighed Reiko as she tossed her bag to the side and her eyes changed to her kakugan, "I suppose I'll have to fight you then. And I wanted to spy on my friend. I'll have to kill you fast."

Reiko's kagune matched her personality. From her back sprouted her kagune in the shape of moving, spiked wings. They were the same green color as the dye in her hair. She moved fast, but she was at a disadvantage.

While Reiko was a Ghoul her kagune was an Ukaku, focused on high speed and ending a fight quickly. The quinque that Rentaro released was from a Ghoul who had been a Koukaku type. The quinque was, in Reiko's opinion, a sharp umbrella. She soon found though that said sharp umbrella was a pain in the ass.

Even with her enhanced speed Reiko slammed into the opened quinque each time she darted in to hit Rentaro and he would quickly counter when her attack was stopped and she was stunned by the impact.

The fight dragged on and Reiko's endurance began to falter, she slowed considerably and while her attacks still had immense power behind them, the dove was easily able to defend with the quinque.

'This was a shitty match up for me.' realized Reiko. She darted to grab her bag and went to leave when the dove's partner's quinque suddenly wrapped around her.

"Fuck!" Reiko was slammed into the ground and the quinque squeezed her tightly. The second dove, revealed to be another man with greasy black hair and typical brown eyes, walked up to her while Rentaro approached from the other side.

'Ican'tdiehere!' Reiko struggled against the quinque, 'Iwanttolive!'

"You fought honorably, Watanabi-san." Rentaro bowed his head to her as he held up his quinque, ready to end her.

'Someonesaveme.'

There was a sudden flash of black and white and the doves were thrown back. The second dove's quinque was ripped from his hand and Reiko's savior broke through the quinque that was wrapped around her. Reiko's eyes widened when she saw her savior.

Hell's Angel.

Long white hair flowed freely around her and a black cloak was wrapped around her body. The mask that covered her face was white while black feathers sprouted up from the sides. Reiko recognized the mask.

_"Ne, Shi-shi-chan, where'd you get this mask?" Reiko held an elegant mask to her face. Shi smiled upon recognizing the mask Uta made for her. It hadn't left her bag yet and Reiko enjoyed going through her bag, referring to her as Mary Poppins. Shi didn't understand the joke, and assumed it was an American movie reference as Reiko was fluent in English and loved American movies._

_"I designed it and had a mask maker bring it to life." answered Shi. Her face took on a look and Reiko smiled mischieviously._

_"Was he cute?" pushed Reiko. Shi gave her a dead look._

_"She was adorable." Shi deadpanned before being serious, "He was... different. I owe him for the mask, I might take him out to get lunch or something on the weekend when I'm free."_

_"Ooooh? A date?" Reiko teased, ignoring Shi's protests._

'Shi-shi-chan?' Reiko thought, 'No, Shi-shi-chan is a human... but... why does Hell's Angel have her mask?'

Hell's Angel stood over Reiko and looked down at her. A single black eye peered from the darkness of the mask's single eye hole. The iris and scelera were black while the crimson pupil was slit like a snake's.

'Why does her kakugan look like that? Is it a mutation?' wondered Reiko.

The white haired Ghoul put a hand out towards the doves, "Leave this Ghoul alone or else I will slaughter you."

"Aoba-san, that's Hell's Angel! She's marked as an SS rank!" Rentaro yelled, retracting his quinque and grabbing his partner's arm.

"She doesn't look like an SS rank..." Aoba's eyes narrowed. Hell's Angel chuckled at the statement before lifting Reiko.

"Run." she whispered to Reiko. Reiko nodded and took off after ripping her bag off the street. As she fled she heard Aoba challenge the Ghoul, and when she was almost out of hearing range she heard the sole scream of a man in severe pain.

She reached the mask shop after taking a wrong turn in her hurry and she burst into the shop, ignoring the looks that Uta, who had pulled his sunglasses on when the door slammed open, and Shi gave her.

"Uh, Reiko?" Shi asked as Reiko took the chance to breathe and leaned on a mask stand.

"I was just attacked!" she gasped.

"By?" Reiko gave Uta a look, hoping he would understand that he should have Shi leave. Instead, Uta removed his glasses and blinked at her.

"Uta!" Shi's eyes widened as she looked between Reiko and Uta. Reiko blinked and it took her a moment before she realized that Shi hadn't freaked out over the kakugan in Uta's eyes.

"Ah!" Reiko pointed at Shi, "You knew Uta-san was a Ghoul!?"

Shi blinked before looking to Uta, "Why does Reiko know you're a Ghoul?"

Uta smiled and Reiko shook her head rapidly at him, but Uta ignored it and instead pleasantly revealed Reiko's secret, "Ghouls have better senses than humans. Reiko-san and I both were able to smell that the other was a Ghoul."

Shi looked between Reiko, who looked like she was going to have an anxiety attack, and Uta before groaning and rubbing her head. Shi looked at Uta.

"I blame you. What, is my boss gonna be a Ghoul next too?" accused Shi, but her voice was teasing.

"Don't worry, that evil woman is a human. But, Shi-shi-chan, why are you ok with us being Ghouls?" Reiko questioned, sincerely confused. Her confusion doubled when Shi laughed.

"Think of it this way, Reiko," Shi began to explain, "You've always been Reiko to me, as Uta has always been Uta. When I found out Uta was a Ghoul, he was still the same Uta. Same for you. If you had wanted to kill me by now, you would have."

Reiko felt tears gather in her eyes. To be accepted as herself, not just Watanabi Reiko but as the Ghoul Watanabi Reiko, Reiko felt happiness. Tears began to trail down from her eyes, bringing eyeliner down with it, "Thank you Shi-shi-chan. F-for accepting me, as your friend even though I'm a Ghoul."

"You've always been my friend, Reiko." Shi smiled.

"What happened with you being attacked?" Uta, who had been looking between the two as they had their heart to heart, broke the moment. Reiko nodded at him and wiped away her tears and smudged her eyeliner further.

"I was chasing after Shi-shi-chan, hoping to catch you two doing something lewd-" Shi muttered to herself, "Honestly, you don't even hide it." but Reiko ignored it, "and a dove caught me. His quinque countered my kagune and I was done for because his partner caught me when I tried to get away. Then, out of nowhere, Hell's Angel knocks them away and breaks through the quinque that was holding me. She made me run and when I was far away I heard one of the doves scream."

"Hell's Angel?" parroted Shi, "Isn't she the one who saved me at the fashion show the other night?"

"And Shi-shi-chan, do you still have your mask that Uta-san made you?" asked Reiko. Shi blinked at her in surprise before she opened her bag and shuffled around it.

"Hm?" Shi looked up at Reiko and Uta, "My mask isn't here. Maybe I left it home...?"

"I think Hell's Angel stole it, she was wearing it!" Reiko exclaimed.

"Didn't reports say she had the mask before she saved Shi?" Uta burst Reiko's bubble.

"Shi-shi-chan, do you have a Ghoul family member? She had white hair too! Maybe your family member could've copied the design of your mask-" Shi cut off the overexcited Ghoul.

"No, I have no family members alive, at least that I'm aware of." Shi put her hand to her chin in thought.

"Whatever, anyway you should probably lay low for awhile Reiko before the doves try for you again." Shi advised. Reiko nodded in agreement. She stood and straightened her clothes out before looking at the scratches she had received in the fight. They had all healed already.

"Alright, I'm going to head home and leave you two to do your naughty business! Have fun!" Reiko announced, grinning at Uta and Shi. Shi sighed and Uta looked at Reiko before standing and throwing an arm around Shi's shoulders.

"We will." Uta told her in what anyone would think was a serious tone. Then Uta tilted Shi's head and kissed her while eyeing Reiko.

"Yes I knew it!" Reiko cheered, "I ship it! What can I call it? Ah, I'm going I'm going!" Reiko sprinted towards the door and Uta and Shi listened as Reiko spouted out ship names while she fled, "Ushi, Shita, Utashi, Shiuta, oh the possibilities!"

"You did that just for that, didn't you?" Shi asked flatly as the door slammed shut and she couldn't hear Reiko anymore. Uta gave her his usual smile.

"Maybe."

* * *

**Thanks to the following for reviewing:**

**SkittleStalker**


	12. Boundaries

**A Masked Secret**

_Chapter 12_

_Boundaries_

* * *

Shi and Uta didn't have an official relationship. Uta wouldn't call Shi his girlfriend, and Shi wouldn't call Uta her boyfriend. They hadn't made it an official relationship. There was still the boundary that marked Uta was a Ghoul and Shi was a human.

But they were comfortable with what they had. Uta and Shi both went through moods where they could be sitting there working on their projects when one of them would suddenly have the urge to be touchy and the other wouldn't protest.

It was a week and a half after Reiko had been attacked when Shi was sitting on Uta's bed with her sketchbook while Uta went through his freezer.

"How's the human?" called Shi, not removing her eyes from from her sketchbook that had the promising beginnings of Reiko in a Shi styled dress.

"Fine. Want to try some?" Uta held up a dismembered arm. Shi looked up from her drawing to examine the arm with interest.

"I would but I don't know where that man... woman? Has been. I'm not risking diseases." Shi declared and Uta looked between the arm and Shi as if it had never occurred to him that he could be eating someone with a disease.

"Ghouls are immune." Uta decided after a moment of thinking.

Shi stuck her tongue out at him, "Don't touch me, I don't want those diseases."

"I'd put that tongue back where you got it from," Uta told her as he put away the arm, "Before I take it."

"Fight me, I can take you. You're just a Ghoul." Shi challenged. Uta raised an eyebrow as he wiped the blood around his mouth onto his sleeve and tossed his cardigan over a chair, leaving him in his tank top that hardly hid the muscles beneath it.

"You sure about that?" Uta asked as he sat beside her. Shi didn't answer, rather she tossed her sketchbook to the side and grinned like a Cheshire cat. Uta pulled her to him, capturing her lips with his own while she wrapped her arms around his neck loosely. Uta was effectively winning in regards to taking her tongue.

Uta's hands moved down from her shoulders to her lower back and they stayed like that before Uta lifted Shi into his lap. She wrapped her legs around Uta's waist and pulled her lips from Uta's, touching their noses together.

"Ne, Uta?" she whispered. Uta hummed, lowering his lips to her neck.

"What would you call us?" Uta didn't want to answer so he continued to move his lips down her neck until he reached her coat. He pulled his hands from her back and ghosted along her stomach before reaching the first button of her coat.

"Trying to distract me from my question? Fine, I'll play your game." she whispered into his ear before ghosting her lips along his jaw. Uta undid her coat, pushing it down her shoulders and tossing it away. This left her tank top, and much more skin much to Uta's pleasure.

Moments like this, Uta's hunger grew. Being so close to a human was hard for him, but his mind and this other hunger that grew inside him shut that hunger out. He didn't get hungry for her like that during times like these, and for that he was relieved.

"Mm, you're bold today." Shi murmured against his neck and his hands found her back again and slipped under her tank top to feel her bare back. Her back wasn't smooth, with grooves from scars that Uta didn't ask about. Shi had her secrets and Uta, while he wanted to know them, left them to her. It would only make them more interesting when she eventually revealed them.

"You talk too much." Uta teased as he once again captured her lips with his own. Uta leaned back onto his bed and allowed Shi to have control for a moment before he rolled them over and had control again. Shi and Uta were opposites in that Uta liked to be more aggressive than Shi, but that didn't mean the moments where Shi decided to take charge Uta didn't enjoy them.

They hadn't reached the point of sex yet, neither were ready for that. Both of them yearned for it, but Uta was still distanced by the Ghoul-human part and Shi had a fear of commitment. That was the best way to sum up Shi's fear, she was afraid of giving Uta her heart because from the past she knew that eventually, she would be left alone again. Shi wasn't a trusting individual, she still hid herself from Uta and she appreciated the fact that Uta didn't push at her.

Uta and Shi still had fun, they challenged each other to see how far the other would go. Uta had found that Shi's neck was sensitive and ticklish and if he wanted to he could get her to give in from attacking there. Uta had also learned that Shi's foundation tasted terrible, and he had learned the hard way. After the third time of eating foundation Uta learned that for now her jaw was off limits, but her lower neck and collar bone area was fair game. In return, Shi found that Uta liked it rough. She could nip at him and run her nails along his skin to get a reaction. Her nails couldn't cut his skin, as he was a Ghoul, but from how he reacted Shi could tell he enjoyed the feeling.

Shi eventually won that round, pressing her hips into his and biting at his neck with her hands exploring his chest after he had lost his shirt at some point (Not that Shi was complaining). Shi had kept her own tank top but that didn't stop Uta from exploring with his hands beneath it, starting at her back and then reaching around to her stomach. Before he could explore higher Shi had ended the game, intent on Uta talking.

She rolled off Uta while he gave her a look that clearly stated "How could you do this to me. Own up to your actions." and she giggled. Shi snuggled up to his side and leaned her cheek on his muscled chest while she traced shapes on his abdomen and followed along the sun tattoo on his chest.

"You didn't answer me." Shi softly spoke. Uta looked down at Shi and rested his hand on her hip while his other hand came up to cup her face.

"We're unlucky." Uta answered finally. Shi frowned and Uta elaborated, "You're human, and I'm a Ghoul. We're not meant to be."

"And yet here we are."

"And yet here we are." Uta agreed gently.

Uta had gained emotions, Shi had taken note. While he often held that same smile and aloof attitude, Shi could sometimes see a softer look in his eyes or see actual happiness in him. But that was rare, as he more often still had that uncaring, neutral tone with the slightest hint of manipulation that she had began to notice.

"What if I wasn't human?" inquired Shi.

Uta pondered this thought for a moment, "You wouldn't be the you that you are now."

"And if I was? What if I became a Ghoul tomorrow?"

"You'd be you, you accepted me as a Ghoul and I accepted you as a human. Should you be a Ghoul, I'd think no different." answered Uta sincerely. Shi smiled.

"I'm glad." she whispered into him. They laid there until Shi started to kiss at Uta's side, beginning round two.

That was their relationship, it was an unofficial official relationship that they could enjoy. It was by no means permanent in their eyes, it was more fragile than even Shi's human body. But they would fight for it, as it gave them something neither had before. Something that surpassed Uta's need for amusement and Shi's cautious, pessimistic views.

They had the tentative beginnings of what some would call love. But the only question was, could their relationship hold against the trials they would face?

* * *

**Thanks to the following for reviewing:**

**MaxBacon**


	13. Accusations

**A Masked Secret**

_Chapter 13_

_Accusations_

* * *

Itori kept giving Uta suspicious glances as he sipped at his water. She couldn't confront him until the last customer of the bar left, so she was staring the drunk who was finishing his last beer down. Uta was watching Itori glare at the man and he decided as soon as that man left, Itori would explode with accusations and possibly excitement. He knew he smelled of Shi, and he also knew that Itori would quite possibly confront him regarding the fact that no one had seen Kuroda Warai in two weeks.

Finally the last drunk left and Itori, as Uta had predicted, exploded, "U-chan why do I smell that human on you!?"

"Why do you think?" Uta replied evenly, sipping his water again. Uta dodged Itori's attempts of splashing her own drink, blood that was in a wine glass, on him in her frustration at realizing he was already beginning to twist the conversation.

"I think you have a relationship with that... human!" Itori's accusation was expected and obvious.

Uta didn't react, placing his glass on the counter and looking at Itori with his usual bored eyes, "Define the relationship you're insinuating I have with that human."

"You know exactly what I mean!" Itori slammed her perfectly done nails down on the counter. She leaned down to be eye level with Uta. Itori glared at Uta as his usual smile was plastered across his face and mocking her.

"We have a difficult relationship." Uta said after a moment, allowing his voice to take on a more casual tone.

"So, you've gone soft." Itori leaned back as if she had to take in the information he had given her, "Are you at least having fun?"

"Yes." Uta nodded, not adding the fact that Shi was almost more fun than he had in his entire life. Itori sipped what remained in her wine glass that she hadn't splashed at Uta.

"I suppose I'll give her a shot, but only because it's you U-chan and you don't do stupid things." Itori finally conceded. Uta sipped the last of his water to hide the grin that had threatened to take over his calm, neutral smile.

"Anyway, have you seen Warai-sama? He went missing after he went to see you." Itori didn't sound suspicious in her question.

"I saw him." Uta told her.

"Is he dead?" Itori pushed.

Uta weighed his options, "Yes."

"Who killed him?"

Uta looked at Itori, and she frowned.

"U-chan, why did you kill Warai-sama?"

Uta put his empty glass down and leaned back in the bar stool, "It was either he died, or I lost my amusement. He bored me."

"Warai-sama? Boring?" asked Itori in disbelief.

"Kuroda-san was interesting, but I chose a better source of amusement over him." Uta answered, his half truth not being caught by Itori.

"You know, you can claim leadership for killing him. No one would oppose you, they're all terrified of you. Theres some kind of mutual respect for you." Itori's voice suggested she was fond of the idea, supportive of Uta if he took the leadership.

"Leave him missing for now," Uta thought to other sources he needed information on, "What else do you know about Hell's Angel?"

Itori didn't comment on the sudden change in conversation, "Hell's Angel, that bitch who saves humans."

"She also saves Ghouls from doves." Uta reminded her, recalling Reiko running to him and Shi slightly less than two weeks prior.

"She still deprives some of us from our meals. It's like a human buying their food and Hell's Angel coming along, grabbing the food and tossing it out of their reach. She hasn't died yet, which is surprising but she won't accomplish anything with what she's doing." Itori almost growled, surprisingly passionate on the topic.

"What's your issue with her?" Uta asked bluntly. Itori calmed herself and ran her hand through her hair.

"She'll eventually get in our way. What she's doing will eventually directly oppose the Clowns, and we'll have to kill her. She stands for the weak and saves them, we have our fun off the weak and even the strong." Itori explained. It made sense to Uta.

"We will have to kill her." he agreed, "When she becomes a problem." For now, she was on his good side having saved Shi, and he didn't mind her saving Reiko.

"Now, U-chan, tell me about your little lover, Shi was her name? I'm interested in this now." Itori poured herself more blood and held the bottle up in question if Uta wanted some.

Uta shook his head, "Shi is an artist, she has an interesting view on Ghouls and humans and she's amusing in that she can be like a puzzle at times. She's fun in that her idea of fun compliments what I enjoy."

"You sound... happy." Itori commented. Uta nodded.

"Perhaps." Uta agreed. Uta left a few minutes later and Itori frowned at the door. While she was pleased that Uta seemed lively and like he was enjoying himself, she was displeased that a human was the cause. Humans were food, they hated Ghouls and Ghouls hated humans. The line between humans and Ghouls... in Itori's opinion, that line shouldn't be crossed. In the past, Uta had the same perspective as Itori.

'What about that human could be so endearing?' Itori wondered, 'She smelled gourmet, but... what about a human could be attractive?'

In another area of Tokyo, a figure covered by a dark cloak stood in wait on top of a tall building. White hair billowed freely in the wind while a mask was secured over a single scar. When the figure's keen senses picked up on trouble, her skin began to glow a deep white and the white surged to her back where it erupted out of her cloak and solidified into black wings that creaked with every movement she made. She took flight, ignoring the figure that had appeared in the shadows to watch her.

Danger was brewing in Tokyo, a danger that not even the Clowns would laugh at should they see it. But, Hell's Angel swore she would keep that evil as her own burden. No one else deserved the hatred and pain that the world had brought them. And she would keep trying for peace until her dying breath.

* * *

**Thanks to the following for reviewing (I won't update if I don't get reviews on chapters, I update daily if it seems like people care.):**

**Savinda**


	14. Anteiku

**A Masked Secret**

_Chapter 14_

_Anteiku_

* * *

Anteiku was a small cafe that Uta explained to Shi was a safe place for both Ghouls and humans. Shi at first questioned why Ghouls would go to a cafe in the first place if they couldn't eat human food, to which Uta ignored until arriving at the cafe.

"We can drink coffee." Uta told her brightly as they sat at a table in the quaint cafe. Uta's sunglasses were perched on his nose but the couple still drew attention with the extreme differences between their appearances. After al, Shi had the air of a business woman and Uta a punk.

"Really, why?" Shi tilted her head in curiosity.

"No one knows." Uta answered as the waitress approached. Shi leaned back and observed the rest of the patrons of the cafe. Two boys sat at one table, one with dark eyes and hair and the other boy was wearing bright clothes with dirty blonde hair and brown eyes. The dark haired boy was reading while the other was trying to get his attention.

"Uta-san, welcome!" the waitress greeted cheerfully. Short dark blue hair and matching eyes characterized the waitress's appearance, but she held an air that made Shi turn her head and regard her with curiosity.

"Touka-san." Uta replied in greeting before gesturing to Shi, "We'll have two coffees."

"I'd like a piece of short cake too please." Shi added. Touka wrote the order down before giving Uta a look that could have been one of two things.

"Uta-san..." she trailed off, "Is this your girlfriend?" Shi and Uta shared a look at the question, both waiting for the other to answer. When Uta said nothing after Shi raised an eyebrow at him, Shi sighed.

Shooting Uta a glare, Shi spoke, "You can call me Shi, and Uta and I's relationship is... complicated, I suppose."

"Complicated... I see." Touka nodded before walking over to the counter. Shi watched her walk away before she turned to Uta.

"She's a Ghoul?" Shi whispered to Uta under her breath. Touka's head shot up, showing she heard, while Uta hummed.

"You're getting better, any others in the cafe?"

Uta and Shi had found a game to play between each other. Shi had remarkable deduction skills and Uta enjoyed testing her to see if while they were out somewhere if she could pick out Ghouls. She had been able to at the Helter Skelter bar, and Uta found that she was right most of the time by observing the drinks each patron had. If it was clear, there was a high chance they were a Ghoul because it could be water. Shi explained she knew Uta faked drinking by drinking water and simply pretending it was a clear alcoholic beverage.

Shi had learned something else though, water wasn't the only drink the bar served. Uta had pointed out a Ghoul to Shi who ordered what at first glance looked to be wine. After the Ghoul drank it and seemed satisfied, Shi had pondered it for a moment before her eye's widened.

"Blood." Shi whispered to Uta in slight disbelief, "She's drinking blood." Itori, who had been walking past gave Shi and Uta a glance and Uta didn't respond to the look Itori gave him. It was his business if he allowed a human to know he was a Ghoul, not hers.

Now while in a cafe Shi was carefully looking over details such as how they acted, if the staff was familiar to them, who knew each other. Another obvious factor was what they were eating or drinking, whether it was just coffee or if they had something with it.

Shi watched the two boys again for a minute, but the dirty blonde was loud and jovial. He didn't fit the mood of a Ghoul, he was also loudly engaging in a conversation with the quiet boy whose nose was stuck in a book. Their conversation's topic? A burger place. Shi ruled the two of them out.

Shi observed the room again, about to say no when the bell rang and a petite girl with long purple hair entered. At the table with the two boys the brown haired one pulled his book over his face and the blonde seemed to not notice his friend's distress as he continued on. Shi watched the purple haired girl sit down and order coffee before she pulled out a book, "That girl."

Uta sniffed the air, "Yes. I haven't seen her before."

"Here you go." Touka put a small tray on the table with their coffee and Shi's cake.

"Thank you." Shi took the coffee and sipped it, feeling the warm liquid go down her throat.

"Mm, this is good quality." Shi told Touka before taking a bite of her cake. The cake, while still fresh and delicious, just didn't compare to the coffee.

"Ne, Uta-san." Touka said and Uta looked up from his coffee, "Keep your eyes on Shi-san here. Wouldn't want to lose her." Touka's eyes narrowed with slight warning before she walked back to the counter. Shi picked up on the word's true meaning of "Keep watch on her, she could get you in trouble" and quite possibly "Watch her or I will kill her".

Shi smiled, "Charming girl, that was a discreet threat to myself, yes?" Uta didn't reply, rather he started to slowly drink his coffee to avoid answering. Shi's eyes scanned the cafe again and she rested her eyes on the purple haired girl. The purple haired girl looked up and her eyes seemed to flash red in the light before changing back to their normal purple.

"She's new to the ward?" asked Shi under her breath. Uta nodded, hearing her fine.

"I haven't seen her in the fourth ward and I'm in the twentieth ward often enough to know she's new." Uta explained. Shi nodded. The two finished their coffee in a calm silence. Uta then impatiently waited for Shi to finish her short cake, to which she purposely made sure to chew slowly just to watch Uta's eyes slowly narrow behind his glasses at her.

"Done!" Shi announced after she had slowly stabbed the last piece with her fork and lifted it to her lips before slowly chewing it for longer than necessary. Uta shook his head at her childish behavior. They paid with Shi refusing Uta attempting to pay for her and they left without bothering the other patrons (Unlike the dirty blonde boy who had jumped up and left in an excited hurry a few minutes prior). Their day went as normal, with Shi requesting Uta stop by her tattoo parlor the next day. Uta, who hadn't been to her tattoo parlor yet, agreed.

Shi walked home in the darkening evening with a cheerful mood. She had her sketchbook out of her bag and she was flipping through it, trying to find a tattoo she had designed a while back. She stopped when suddenly a figure stepped out of an alley ahead of her.

Long purple hair covered the purple eyes that belonged to the Ghoul at Anteiku. The red glasses that had covered her eyes were gone, showing her attractive face as her eyes slid to their kakugan.

"You knew I was a Ghoul," her voice was like syrup, sweet yet sticky, "You understand that means you have to die, and I quite enjoy eating."

Shi looked around the quiet neighborhood and found she was much too far to make it back to Uta's. She also doubted her apartment would prevent a Ghoul from breaking through a door and killing her. It was quite a predicament Shi was in, and what better than to bluff and discreetly threaten in those hard times?

Shi laughed, "I don't think you want to kill me, you'll find the consequences will be your undoing." Shi put away her sketchbook and hid her nervousness as four kagune spilled from the girl's back.

'Those look more dangerous than what I've seen so far.' thought Shi, bringing her hands up in fists. The woman laughed at seeing Shi's fighting posture.

"A human, thinking it could match me?"

And then the kagune shot at Shi with speed that a human couldn't match, no matter how strong they were.

* * *

**CALM YOURSELF. SHE IS NOT BECOMING KANEKI (EVEN THOUGH THAT WOULD MAKE A BETTER PLOT THAN I HAVE)**

**Thanks to the following for reviewing:**

**Savinda**


	15. Web of Secrets

**A Masked Secret**

_Chapter 15_

_Web of Secrets_

* * *

Uta walked along the streets of Tokyo inside the crowds of the mid-morning rush. He was heading towards the address Shi had hastily scribbled on a paper for him (Really her handwriting was like chicken scratch, her hiragana seemed to blend together and if his own handwriting wasn't so similar then Oikinawa Street would have been Aikinowa Street. Her A and O hiragana needed more time spent when writing them it seemed.). Uta reached the small tattoo parlor after passing an Aikinowa Street and briefly wondering if her O's and A's really were mixed up, but continuing onward brought him to Oikinawa. There on the busy street was a tattoo parlor squished between a salon and a dry cleaner's.

Uta entered the tattoo parlor despite the Closed sign and looked around. Nothing had been opened up yet, nor had there been any signs of Shi being there recently. Uta sniffed the air and found this conclusion to be true. Shi wasn't often late, so what could have held her? Uta was in fact late himself.

When he gave her ten more minutes and she didn't show, a pit started to form in his stomach. Shi had left late the night before, had she been attacked? Was she injured somewhere, or had she just overslept?

A small jingle called him out of his reverie and he turned to find Shi, her previously injured shoulder wrapped again and a makeshift sling over the arm. When her eyes met Uta's, she froze with a deer-in-headlight expression.

"What happened?" Uta asked, taking casual strides to Shi where he lifted her bandaged arm.

"I had a run in with a Ghoul last night. I got away, but damn she hurt. I'd rather this over her spearing through my stomach like she tried though." Shi pulled her arm out of Uta's grip as if his touch burned.

"How did you survive?" Uta inquired when she turned and her low back tank top revealed bandages wrapped around her stomach and lower back.

"Luck and stupidity."

Shi didn't elaborate further as she flipped the Closed sign to Open and turned the lights in the shop on. Uta flipped through the many books of tattoo designs Shi had, each one drawn by her.

"What made you become an artist?" Uta found himself asking Shi after two girls entered the shop but took one look at the two patrons of the shop and decided perhaps tattoos weren't for them.

"Well," Shi leaned back and looked down at the sketchbook in front of her on the front counter, "That's a pretty good question. I don't remember entirely."

Uta gave Shi an interested look and she elaborated, "It was so long ago that I chose art as my path, I just don't remember why."

"You aren't older than twenty-five." Uta demurred, eyeing Shi with interested eyes. How could she forget why she was an artist if she was so young? Did she not want to share?

Shi laughed, "Twenty-two, if you must know." Uta didn't fully believe her. The age seemed off, just like the grey eyes Shi wore to hide whatever her real eye color was.

"And you, Uta?" Shi questioned. Uta answered as he stood to investigate the large speaker system by the couches.

"Twenty-seven."

Shi hummed in response and silence overtook them as Uta flipped through the music on the IPod attached to the speakers. Finally he settled on a song, loud metal music blasting through the studio and causing the table the speakers were on to shake. Uta lowered it after his ears were almost ruptured.

"Why do you make masks?"

Uta blinked at Shi after hearing her question. He contemplated not answering like she had, but found himself answering anyway, "For a Ghoul to blend into human society, we need masks that we never take off. I make masks that Ghouls can take off and hide behind, something that can represent them and allow them to be themselves without fear of being hunted. As Ghouls, if we're suspected for even a moment, we're done for. We have to conduct ourselves without becoming too involved."

"But you've become involved." Shi pointed out, "With me, and humans do enter your shop. Reiko is involved with humans too."

"Reiko-san and I differ in that she enjoys the company and is willing to take the risks of it. I find amusement in watching from the shadows." Uta paused for a moment as he looked out the window onto the street, "But yes, I have become involved with you. You are an abnormally."

Shi chuckled to herself and Uta continued to watch the people pass the tattoo parlor. The low hum of music began to blend with Shi flipping a page of her sketchbook every few moments. Outside, Uta watched a couple sit outside at the cafe across the street. The woman of the couple had short blood red hair and large, innocent brown eyes while the man had messy hazelnut hair and matching eyes hidden behind glasses. The man was relaxed, and judging from the girl's responses he teased her and occasionally when no one seemed to be watching, the man would lean in to her just to fluster her. The flirtatious teasing made Uta look at Shi who was perfectly content flipping through her sketchbook.

'Humans and Ghouls...' Uta thought, continuing to watch the couple, 'Walk on either side of a fine line.'

"Ne, Uta, what do you think of this design?" Uta turned to look at Shi as she held her sketchbook up. It was lightly done in pencil and seemed to be a series of letters. The letters weren't Japanese so Uta appraised the structure.

"They're artistic." Uta decided on. Shi, who took that as a compliment, pulled a tattoo book closer to her and flipped through that more viciously than she had her sketchbook.

"I want to tattoo you, come up with something for me to tattoo on you or I will." Shi told Uta casually, as if he had agreed to the idea. Uta raised an eyebrow.

"I agreed to this when?"

Shi smiled at him, his pulse quickening at her beautiful grin, "Since I decided I want to tattoo you and you'll indulge in my whims. Besides, I'm almost out of room on my own body."

"That's the only reason?" Uta raised a challenging eyebrow. Shi gave a dramatic sigh.

"Weeeeell, I quite like your body. But if you want the real sentimental reason..." Shi took on a serious tone, "Our relationship... won't last forever, will it?"

Uta didn't answer, nor did he want to answer. Shi took the silence as an affirmative.

"I just... don't want you to forget me. I've been forgotten by so many people, I'd like to leave a mark on someone I've become so close to." Shi admitted. Uta regarded Shi with new eyes. She had bowed her head so that her long white hair covered her face from the side ponytail that almost never left it's place. When Uta moved to see her eyes, her long bangs covered them and she would blow on them every few seconds. It was not only a nervous habit of hers or a type of twitch she developed when annoyed. Her bangs truly did fall in front of her eyes and annoy her.

"Gooooooooood morning!" the door burst open and Uta looked to it while hiding his surprise at being knocked from his thoughts when Reiko's sunny form bounced into the room. Her blonde hair was no longer red and green, the red replaced by a lighter blonde than her natural blonde. The green was also more pronounced than before. Reiko's clothes were the same style, however she had a jean vest over a white belly shirt today.

"Shi-shi-chan, Uta-san." Reiko greeted more appropriately when Shi didn't even look up from her book and Uta ignored her entrance after it's initial shock.

"Good morning Reiko." Shi replied instantly to the normal greet. Reiko pouted and all but skipped to Shi's counter where she started to flip through the first tattoo book she got her hands on.

"Finally getting a tattoo?" Shi casually asked, avoiding eye contact with Reiko. Reiko shook her head.

"Maybe, I need to make myself look different to throw off my stalker." Reiko's casualness in the word "stalker" made Uta give Shi a questioning glance. Shi looked as bewildered as Uta felt most people would at Reiko's words.

"Stalker?" Shi voiced her question.

"Yup, that asshole of an investigator from when I was attacked. Kenmari Rentaro-san was his name." Reiko grabbed a second book and made herself comfortable next to Uta on the couch. They stopped talking when a human entered, greeting Shi familiarly. Uta assumed that most of the tattoos adorning the man's body were done by Shi.

"Reiko, Uta, I expect my shop to be standing when I finish with Yumaru-san's tattoo. If someone comes in, please yell for me." Shi called as she led the man into a back room (This followed Reiko finally noticing Shi's sling and demanding how she would tattoo someone with a single hand. Shi waved her single hand and sneered "Magic" before telling her she was ambidextrous).

"Oooooh someone's getting a naughty tattoo!" snickered Reiko. Uta briefly wondered if Reiko was a young woman or a child.

Reiko, as if Uta had asked her to elaborate, leaned in to Uta to whisper, "Shi-shi-chan only uses the private room if someone's getting something she can't show off to the world. Like a tattoo on their butt. Or a woman's boobs. Hey, have you see Shi-shi-chan's boob tattoos?"

Reiko was a child in a woman's body, Uta concluded. Uta didn't feel the need to answer Reiko's question (Or ask how Reiko knew Shi had tattoos on her breasts), deciding to look back out the window and ignore the heat of Reiko's glare into his head. The couple Uta had been watching were just standing and getting ready to leave, the man grabbing the woman's bags and carrying them for her.

Uta almost scolded himself for feeling envious of their relationship. Humans didn't realize how lucky they were, being allowed to love each other without issue. They lived in blissful ignorance, believing Ghouls to be petty monsters without feelings of love and friendship.

Love.

Uta almost looked towards the door Shi had disappeared into, but refrained. Did he love Shi? He enjoyed her company, she amused him greatly and she was attractive. Uta feared losing Shi, despite it being inevitable. It would happen eventually, but Uta wanted to prolong it for as long as possible.

"You're thinking of Shi-shi-chan, aren't you?" Reiko asked, her tone no longer childish but mature and wistful. Uta looked at Reiko, the mischievous glint in her eyes were gone. Her dark black orbs were now solemn and deep, reflecting Uta's face in them like a mirror. He looked away.

Reiko noticed and continued, "You know, as Ghouls, we don't get a chance to be accepted often. Shi-shi-chan, she's open minded. Don't take her for granted, alright? You have a dreamy look about you, but you also have the look of someone who already has their head in the guillotine. Shi-shi-chan... I've never seen her so carefree and happy before. She's always kept distance, as if friendship would burn her should she get too close. She's never had a boyfriend before either, at least that I know of. Then, suddenly, you were there."

"She entered my mask shop looking to have her custom design brought to life," Uta thought back to his first thoughts of Shi, "I wasn't going to get attached, involved with her. But something came over me, and then we met again and then again after that. Shi proposed friendship, she seemed like a human with many friends. But, I've only met you, of her loved ones."

Reiko nodded, her eyes looking down at her lap, "Shi-shi-chan, doesn't have a family. She said she lost them so long ago, it doesn't matter anymore to her. She's lost so many friends too, that she's learned that caring for people just ends in despair. But that isn't true. That can't be true."

"Humans and Ghouls can't mix, yet she's found two Ghouls by her side." Uta commented. His eyes flickered to the closed door Shi and the other human were behind.

"It's not that humans and Ghouls can't mix, Uta-san." Reiko replied, eyes meeting Uta's, "It's that it's so socially unaccepted everyone seems to think that it's impossible. But it's not."

Uta sighed, surprising Reiko. In that brief second, Uta's face seemed to morph into just that of a man wanting nothing more to be with his love. But then his guard was up again and he turned to look out the window. Reiko looked down at the tattoo book, her fingers tracing the letters of a quote with several different font examples.

"Ghouls and humans are on different sides of a fine line that cannot be crossed." Uta finally spoke again. Reiko looked up and shook her head.

"It can be crossed."

"Has it ever ended in happiness?" Uta retorted. Reiko fell silent.

"Ghouls eat humans. Humans kill Ghouls." Uta's eyes didn't leave the window.

"Ghouls eat other Ghouls, humans kill other humans. That line can be crossed." Reiko stood firm on her argument. Uta didn't speak again, and Reiko turned to the book before pulling out her phone and when Shi returned much later and the man paid and left, Reiko sauntered up to Shi with the book and a business card that she had written on the back of.

"Give me this right under my naval." Reiko traced the line right above her low hanging jeans. Shi squinted at Reiko's hand writing before humming thoughtfully.

"I googled it, it's a proverb or whatever." Reiko explained proudly.

"Very inspirational, Reiko." Shi pointed to the font, "Colors?"

"Red and black." Reiko answered before turning to look at Uta. Uta glanced at Shi's face, her eyes no longer seemed sad. Rather, her eyes were glued to what Reiko had written.

"We're fools whether we dance or not, so we might as well dance." Shi whispered, eyeing Reiko's stomach. Then, her eyes slowly fell to Uta and a look of pain crossed her face for a split second. Uta caught the pain before her eyes caught his. She gave him a wide smile.

Fake.

Just like her eyes.

"What quotes do you have on your body, Shi-shi-chan?" Reiko inquired.

Shi's eyes took on a faraway look, "Bad and good are intertwined like rope, on my spine. You fall seven times, get up eight, on my ankle. When the time comes, even a rat becomes a tiger, on my right bicep. Um, what else... over my heart, I have the name Kyoshi Naoka."

Reiko immediately asked, "Who's Kyoshi Naoka?"

"Don't worry," Shi locked herself away, "She's long dead."

"But who was she?" pressed Reiko.

"Leave it, Reiko." Shi snapped. Reiko blinked as Shi started towards her tattoo chair, "C'mon, you want that tattoo?"

Uta, meanwhile, was interested. He kept the name to his memory, Kyoshi Naoka. He intended to ask Itori later. When the door opened again, Uta was surprised to find a familiar purple haired Ghoul entered the shop.

"Shi-san, do you have a moment?" she asked politely. The white haired girl looked up from where she was almost halfway done with Reiko's tattoo (Reiko had squealed about it at first, then trailed off into giggling creepily. Shi hadn't been concerned in the slightest so Reiko gave up.).

"Ah, Rize-san, I did promise I'd speak with you today. Let me finish Reiko's tattoo." Shi continued at the slow pace and Rize took a seat next to Uta after nodding at him. Uta glanced between Rize and Shi, wondering how Shi was suddenly familiar with Rize.

_"I had a run in with a Ghoul last night. I got away, but damn she hurt. I'd rather this over her spearing through my stomach like she tried though." Shi pulled her arm out of Uta's grip as if his touch burned._

_"How did you survive?" Uta inquired when she turned and her low back tank top revealed bandages wrapped around her stomach and lower back._

_"Luck and stupidity."_

Uta's suspicion rose as suddenly, another secret was added to the web that Shi seemed to have spun. Uta had the sudden urge to demand answers from Shi, but knew that wouldn't go over well with Shi. Perhaps if they hadn't already started at an issue, he could bring it up.

When would Shi's secrets come to light?

* * *

**Thanks to the following for reviewing (Please review, reviews make me write more):**


	16. Tears

**A Masked Secret**

_Chapter 16_

_Tears_

* * *

Shi spent more time at Uta's mask shop than she did her own apartment now. She stayed overnight when it got too late and Uta didn't want her walking home in case of yet another Ghoul happening upon her (Uta had asked her how she was alive to this point). Shi had actually taken to leaving two pairs of shorts and extra toiletries at Uta's apartment. Rather than leave her own bed clothes there, she had taken to stealing clothing from Uta. Uta didn't mind as when she gave them back (If she gave them back) they smelled like her. Shi didn't tell Uta, but the reason she stole his clothes was for the same reason, they smelled like him. They smelled of iron, or as Shi could now identify as possibly blood, and materials or ink.

"Mm, I have a day off today." Shi whispered one morning, her face buried in Uta's bare chest. Her warm breath tickled, and Uta's eyes opened as if she had challenged him.

"Good." Uta's chest rumbled with his deeper, first waking up voice that Shi made fun of him for when he made fun of her "sleepy kitty" expression when she woke up.

"Wanna know what I woke up thinking about?" Shi asked. Uta was curious, but sleep sounded better. It was early, he knew that much. And they had gone to sleep late after late night art followed by their usual challenges and rounds of sexual but not leading to sex games.

"No. Sleep." Uta's eyes slowly closed.

Shi ignored him, "I had a dream where I was a Ghoul."

Uta opened his eyes again, awake now. It was too early for this shit, he thought, but it couldn't be helped. For the past week, all the tension in their relationship had come from anything related to species. Even watching the news when it brought up Ghoul attacks made Shi tense.

"And?" Uta wrapped an arm around Shi. She radiated heat, most likely because she was a blanket hog who also drowned in the shirts and pants that she stole from Uta's drawers.

"You were happy. I was happy. It was a fantasy fairy tale ending." Shi sighed into Uta's chest, "I want a fairy tale ending."

"Go back to sleep." Uta suggested as he closed his own eyes and ran a hand through her long hair. Shi huffed to herself but closed her eyes. Sleep didn't come for either of them, Shi's dream replaying in her mind while Uta couldn't stop thinking of how things would be if Shi were a Ghoul. Or, how simple things would be if they were both human.

"Ne, Uta?" Shi spoke up, "What color were your eyes before they got stuck like that?"

Uta had to actually pause to think. What color had his eyes been? Had his eyes ever not been stuck in their kakugan? It was a good question.

"I don't remember." Uta admitted. Shi hummed into his chest and Uta wondered what color his eyes would be if he were human. What color were Shi's eyes?

Uta voiced his question, "What color are your eyes?"

"Grey contacts."

Uta stared at the white head that was on his chest until Shi looked up at him. She narrowed those fake grey eyes at him and reached up with her hand to poke at his cheek for some unfathomable reason.

"Mm, I have heterochromia, I'll tell you that." Shi nuzzled back into Uta's chest.

'Two colors.' Uta leaned his head back.

"What's one of the colors?"

Shi chuckled, "You're talkative this morning. Black. Almost like Reiko's eyes."

"Why do you hide them?" Uta was feeling oddly curious this morning.

"To be normal. How many people do you see with heterochromia? It's best to hide them. Besides, the heterochromia isn't the only oddity about them." Shi answered, "What happened to sleep?"

Uta rolled to his side to wrap his arms around Shi. She didn't protest and moved from using Uta's chest as her pillow to using his arm. Now she was face to face with Uta and she used this as a chance to kiss his nose. Uta accepted the little gestures Shi made when she was feeling playful as pointing them out caused more teasing than both needed.

"What about you, what can you tell me about yourself?" Shi turned the conversation to Uta. Uta pondered the question for a moment.

"I like music. Art. Mask making. Humans are interesting. I'm being coerced into a new tattoo." Uta listed and Shi narrowed her eyes at him.

"I'd be annoyed if i wasn't a cryptic bitch too." then Shi rolled so her back was to Uta. Uta decided that this was an optimal target to kiss, and goosebumps rose along her body.

"It's too early." whined Shi but that didn't stop her from reaching behind her and finding Uta's neck. She rolled back over and pulled him into a long, intimate kiss that ended when Uta rolled onto his back and brought Shi on top of him.

It was never too early for this, Uta supposed.

Despite the flaws in their relationship, the constant secrecy and doubt Shi held close to her and Uta's acceptance on their relationship not lasting due to the difference in species, they were what one could call happy. Shi had yet to be bothered by the Ghoul part of Uta, rather she accepted it. But acceptance couldn't break down the walls that were built between them.

Shi left around noon, having a prior engagement that afternoon. Uta left soon after, following Shi in curiosity. What was Shi's normal day like? Was she meeting with Reiko? Shopping for food? Shi was a human, her life should be so very different from Uta's. Uta had been curios over Shi's life before but she spent more time at his shop than anywhere else. She came straight from work which she always exclaimed was boring, and on the weekends she spent most of the afternoon at her tattoo parlor unless business was slow and she left early or opened late.

Shi ended up in the twentieth ward where she slid through alleys and almost lost Uta. Uta's sense of smell kept him on her tail and he hung back until a familiar stench hit him as it intertwined with Shi's aroma.

'The purple haired Ghoul...' Uta crept through the shadows of the alley until he was watching the pair from the shadows. Shi was leaning against the brick wall, her posture seemingly calm but hiding her taut muscles that were ready to spring. Similarly, Rize was hiding her own tense figure by sitting on the steps leading into the back of a building. They were on either side of the alley, giving a great distance between them.

"I don't understand, Shi-san." Rize was saying when Uta came into hearing range, "Why would you hide that?"

Uta felt his body still, Shi had told Rize something that she was hiding? Why tell a complete stranger?

"I've seen many things in my lifetime, Rize-san. When you just get tired of living like an outcast, all you want is normal. I was so tired of wanting to die, to leave this world. I needed a purpose. I found that purpose." Shi answered, and Uta frowned. He had missed the introduction of the topic.

"But why? What could make you want that?" Rize shook her head, "To be so selfless, or are you actually selfish? Peace of mind? I don't see how doing what you're doing could bring you that."

Shi smiled and pulled something from her bag. She tossed it to Rize and Uta's eyes focused on what Shi had tossed to Rize.

'Her mask... but didn't she lose it?' Uta wondered, 'Hell's Angel was using it...'

Rize looked down at the mask and ran her hands through the feathers. She brought it to her own face, finding her face too long and wide to fit it. Rize gave the mask back to Shi who placed it in a side compartment of her bag.

"Well, I got my answers." Rize stood and looked to where Uta was hiding, "Oh, we have an eavesdropper. I knew he was there, but I don't really care who hears. Too bad you care, Shi-san." Rize left with a grin towards Shi as her eyes widened when Uta stepped from the shadows.

"I see... you heard, from what?" Shi tilted her head. Uta didn't answer, stepping to be in front of Shi.

"What are you hiding?"

Shi laughed, parroting the question, "What am I hiding? I don't know, Uta, why don't you tell me since you were listening in on my conversation!"

Oh, so she was mad. Uta felt annoyance at her words, if she had simply told him then he wouldn't have had to eavesdrop. Wasn't complete trust part of a relationship? That was what Uta saw, anyway.

"Not going to talk?" Shi righted her head from it's tilt and she sighed, sitting back on the steps that Rize had been on moments prior.

"What does it matter, what I'm hiding?" she asked, her eyes defeated, "It's not like it will matter."

"Why won't it matter?" Uta inquired. Shi's eyes flashed briefly in acknowledgement.

"So you missed that portion of Rize-san and I's conversation, very well. I think I know when you got there, then." Shi bit her lip, "Uta, I think you know very well why it doesn't matter."

"No, I don't." Uta shook his head. Shi's eyes flashed with anger this time.

She grit her teeth, "No, you do. You're so hung up on how we won't last!"

Oh, that was what this was turning into.

"Humans and Ghouls-" Uta was cut off as Shi slammed her fist into the stairs, blood spilling from her fingers as they scraped along the rough cement, "Bullshit Uta! Forget about that! That's all that matters to you! Humans and Ghouls, humans and Ghouls, humans and Ghouls! I... I knew that we wouldn't last long, but, it's starting to eat away at me! I... Why can't you just forget that you're a Ghoul and I'm a human? Surely... there must be a pair out there like us. A Ghoul and a human... human..." Shi wiped at her eyes before she swore.

"My contact got wiped out." Shi laughed bitterly before she looked up, her right eye squinted shut. Uta reached forward towards the right side of her face to cup the side of her face, but she surprised him by smacking it out of the air.

"No, I won't tell you my secrets. Not when you'll leave me like everyone else always has." then Shi turned and started to walk down the alley away from him. The lingering smell of her blood and scent almost overpowered the distinct smell of tears as she walked away from him.

Later that night while Uta was working on a mask, there was a knock on his door. He opened it when he smelled the scent of a Ghoul and he didn't dodge when a tan fist landed against the side of his face, long white nails digging viciously into his skin. Uta stood his ground and allowed a second hook punch to crack into the other side of his jaw before he caught the third punch that was heading for his nose.

"Reiko-san." Uta greeted as he focused on his face mending. Reiko puffed her cheeks out and her eyes were in the angry black and red of her kakugan.

"You hurt Shi-shi-chan!" Reiko snarled, a sharp white nail pointing in Uta's face with the accusation. His face had healed at a surprising rate, Reiko noticed. It was almost completely healed already, the skin's bruising fading before her very eyes.

Uta blinked, "We argued."

"I told you if you hurt her then I'd kill you! But forget killing you, I'll just rip off your dick since no man hurts a lady like that!" Reiko tried to punch him again and Uta simply sidestepped, the blonde falling forward before turning around and her kagune spilling from her back.

"It was an argument, people argue." Uta demurred. Reiko narrowed her eyes at him.

"It wasn't just an argument, Asshole-san! Your motherfucking head in guillotine attitude made Shi-shi-chan cry! Cry! She doesn't cry, ever. She's always said she's done all the crying she could in her life... so why, why did you make her cry?" Reiko, seemingly calmed a bit, retracted her kagune and her eyes faded to their usual black irises.

"Humans..." Uta turned towards his work table, "There's a reason Ghouls and humans don't interact on friendly levels."

"Shi-shi-chan, she was so happy with you. You... I'll show you. I'll go and fix this, I will make you see that there's more than just human and Ghoul." Reiko turned and started towards the door, "Oh, and Uta-san... you shouldn't pick at her secrets. Shi-shi-chan, she doesn't get mad. Or sad. She's always passive, but I've found she is terrifying when you try and ask about the only things she isn't open about." Then Reiko was gone as quick as she had come.

Uta went back to making masks, ignoring how for the first time he felt a hole actually appearing in his heart.

Meanwhile, Hell's Angel stood on a tall building as she overlooked the city with keen eyes. She listened for screams and left her senses open to finding a wavelength of power. Whether a Ghoul or investigator was in trouble she would help.

"It's my duty after all..." she whispered to herself, "I must fix what has been done. To prevent needless pain and suffering... I will do anything."

* * *

**Thanks to the following for reviewing:**

**Savinda  
Maxbacon (Your smiley face made my day :D)**


	17. What If

**A Masked Secret**

_Chapter 17_

_What If_

* * *

"You look like shit still." Reiko moaned as she laid across Shi's couch. Shi, who was slouched at her desk with her makeup in a disarray and her hair not brushed at all in the four days since she had last seen Uta, snorted.

"I still feel like shit." she admitted, wiping at her face. Reiko watched before something caught her eye.

Suddenly Shi almost felt back off her chair as Reiko appeared in her face, "Ne, Shi-shi-chan, what's that?"

Reiko's nail traced through Shi's makeup and Shi, after a moment, sighed. She stood and walked to the bathroom with Reiko following behind closely. Shi removed all her makeup in front of Reiko for the first time, her naked face turning to Reiko.

"A scar?" Reiko's white nails traced the line that extended from the corner of Shi's mouth up to just missing her eye and ending at her temple. The scar was devastating on Shi's beautiful face, the only blemish on her doll perfect appearance.

"Yeah." Shi affirmed.

"How'd you get it?" then, "Why hide it?"

Shi sighed again, "I... wanted to be normal. That scar is a reminder of what I've lost. I hate it. I wish it would disappear. And it does, under makeup and forgetting about it. Even the phantom pains it gets on occasion don't remind me of the past if it's covered under makeup."

"And you got it how?" Reiko repeated. Shi found Reiko's deep black eyes at that moment to be a curse with how they reflected her pathetic face and that damned scar.

"I got it trying to protect someone who only left me." Reiko hummed at Shi's response.

"You're good looking even with it, did you ever show Uta-san?" Reiko expected the wince that came over Shi. A smile broke across Reiko's lips.

"Ah, you didn't. Perhaps he'd accept the relationship more if you were honest?" Reiko tilted her head and Shi pushed her shoulder to the side to slip out of her bathroom and away from Reiko.

"Ne, ne, Shi-shi-chan, don't run from me. I actually have a date that I was hoping you'd help me get ready for!" Reiko danced around Shi who gave her an interested eyebrow raise.

"Is he a Ghoul?"

Reiko, expecting the question, grinned wildly, "Nope! In fact, he's that dove who has been stalking me. See, I promised Uta-san I'd show him that humans and Ghouls can be together. And what better way to show him than that?"

"Isn't that dangerous?" asked Shi, her tone flat and in slight disbelief, "What if he kills you?"

"Please, I'm a Ghoul. I'd like to see him try." Reiko turned towards the bathroom again, "Makeup me! Clothe me!"

Shi sighed, muttering to herself about Reiko's childish ways and about how she got her ass handed to her the previous time, before she followed. Reiko, twenty minutes later, had shadowed eyes and a black corset over a white tank top and flowing skirt. Shi, taking into account that the dove could attack Reiko, gave the clothes mobility and made sure Reiko was in top shape for a fight.

"Damn, I like this corset. It's tight but breezy!" Reiko was twirling while pulling at the corset in interest. Shi was still a bit flabbergasted over Reiko's general easy going and slightly stupid attitude and decisions so she didn't reply, rather she leaned against the wall as Reiko continued to talk about meaningless things.

Shi's eyes drifted to the blood stained tiles in her bathroom. She remembered the fashion show and how Uta had helped her.

'I wonder, at that moment, how had it felt to him? Was my blood overpowering? Was he battling the will to eat me?' Shi looked towards her sketchbook that was laying innocently on her desk, 'When he looked at me... did he see just a human? Or... someone more?'

Shi thought back to after Uta had been revealed to be a Ghoul.

_"I'm a loner, friends are hard to come by and many have left me. But you didn't, not yet at least."_

_"I won't."_

_"Promise?"_

_"Yes."_

Shi wondered if Uta recalled that moment, or if he had forgotten.

With a new thought in her mind, Shi grabbed her brush and started to bring it through her hair. Reiko noticed, blinking when Shi finished and left the bathroom. Shi flipped the light off in there and entered her bedroom, walking out with a black vest and dark gray belly shirt a minute later. Her leggings were gone, replaced by casual jeans with a black belt with a skull buckle.

"Ooh?" Reiko tilted her head as Reiko grabbed her bag, lifting it onto her shoulder and pulling out her keys. Reiko followed Shi out and Shi locked her front door after turning off the lights.

"I'm going to go talk to Uta." Shi explained. Reiko raised an eyebrow.

"As the real Kao Shi?"

Shi nodded, "As the real me, or as real as I can be, I suppose."

'After all, magicians don't reveal all their tricks. But I can part with a few.'

Shi and Reiko parted, Reiko heading towards the twentieth ward and Shi towards the fourth ward.

Shi hadn't been the only one who had been sulking due to the fight. Uta had found himself wandering through the streets when Shi hadn't come back after the first few days. His thoughts were irrational compared to his usual calm mind. He couldn't possibly understand Shi, he knew that. The Shi he knew was like a piece of clear plastic wrap over something. He could see what it was, but not clearly. Uta knew Shi, but not all of her.

Uta stopped when there was a sudden flash of red. He looked as a familiar couple walked past him, their hands linked together and their smiles and happiness radiating from them. Uta almost disregarded them, but as he inhaled he caught the scent of a Ghoul. His eyes widened behind his sunglasses as he turned, his eyes following the red haired woman and man with glasses. He had been watching them that day from the tattoo parlor, thinking them to be human and human.

But, they were really human and Ghoul.

The man, the Ghoul, as if sensing Uta's stare, turned to look at him. He gave a challenging look, one that sent chills down Uta's back. The look wasn't of a Ghoul being territorial over it's food source, rather, it was the look of a man who would die for his love.

Uta continued past them, shaken by what he had seen. The entire time he had been watching them, envious of their happiness and relationship and thinking of how simple being humans was, they hadn't been humans. They had been human and Ghoul, just like Shi and Uta. Things couldn't be that simple, could they?

But, when Uta turned and looked back on the couple who were almost out of sight, he realized that it was that simple. That love was something that fought through the hardest of barriers. That couple...

Uta stopped in an alley and looked down in a puddle, pulling his glasses down so that the red and black of his kakugan stared back at him.

'What am I doing?' Uta wondered, 'Ghouls and humans...'

But they could coexist, they did. That couple was proof just now. They had gone against the world's views.

Could Shi and himself really be like them?

With his thoughts in turmoil, Uta returned to his shop. He was disgruntled to find Itori waiting for him but visibly he had his usual guard up. She chattered about useless things as it was only a social visit. She had started off by chiding him about his relationship and allowing a human to know he was a Ghoul, but soon the topic changed to something menial and Uta found himself thinking about Shi and that human-Ghoul couple. Uta vaguely listened when Itori started to talk about Hell's Angel, but again, his thoughts strayed to another white haired woman. Only this one human.

He didn't think long though before Shi, who had undergone a similar thought-changing event, arrived.

Shi let herself into Uta's shop despite the sign being flipped to Closed. She regretted that when she found a familiar red head sitting on Uta's work table. Uta looked up when she entered and immediately the tension that had already been in the room changed from anger (Itori figured out Uta wasn't listening to her) to something else. Itori looked between Uta and Shi, connecting the dots and laughing.

"You two had a fight!" then she pushed off the table she was sitting on and made her way to the door. Itori called over her shoulder once more before pushing past Shi and leaving, "Don't forget what I said about Hell's Angel, U-chan!"

Uta regarded Shi's change of clothes with interest. She walked closer to him and his eyes met the scar that curled up her face, giving the twisted affect of a permanent smile, "Is that a scar?"

"Yeah." Shi pulled her stool to Uta's work bench and perched on it, "I suppose I could be a bit more open." Uta blinked in surprise at Shi's words.

"I got this scar protecting someone who later left me because of what I did to protect them. This scar... is a brutal reminder to me, that people leave and that I have a purpose." Shi traced her scar. Uta lifted his hand to hers and traced it with his own fingers before his hands found her pale pink lips. No makeup adorned her face, giving her face a pale, tired look. Her eyes had bags beneath them and her eyelashes were still long but light in color. She was still the most beautiful woman Uta had ever laid eyes on despite how she looked without the makeup.

"What is your purpose?" Uta inquired. Shi looked down at her feet.

"My purpose... You once asked me why I was an artist. Well, art is forever. It won't leave me. Just like tattoos." Uta didn't comment on how Shi didn't answer. She had a habit of doing that. Shi ran a hand through her long white hair.

'Her hair is down...' Uta suddenly looked at Shi with a new light. Her hair was longer when it was down and it occurred to him the way her mask was made it covered the scar on her face.

_"Hell's Angel?" parroted Shi, "Isn't she the one who saved me at the fashion show the other night?"_

_"And Shi-shi-chan, do you still have your mask that Uta-san made you?" asked Reiko. Shi blinked at her in surprise before she opened her bag and shuffled around it._

_"Hm?" Shi looked up at Reiko and Uta, "My mask isn't here. Maybe I left it home...?"_

_"I think Hell's Angel stole it, she was wearing it!" Reiko exclaimed._

_"Didn't reports say she had the mask before she saved Shi?" Uta burst Reiko's bubble._

**What**

_"I've seen many things in my lifetime, Rize-san. When you just get tired of living like an outcast, all you want is normal. I was so tired of wanting to die, to leave this world. I needed a purpose. I found that purpose." Shi answered, and Uta frowned. He had missed the introduction of the topic._

_"But why? What could make you want that?" Rize shook her head, "To be so selfless, or are you actually selfish? Peace of mind, I don't see how doing what you're doing could bring you that."_

_Shi smiled and pulled something from her bag. She tossed it to Rize and Uta's eyes focused on what Shi had tossed to Rize._

_'Her mask... but didn't she lose it?' Uta wondered, 'Hell's Angel was using it...'_

**If**

_"Uta-san, there are worse things than Ghouls out there, don't you think?" Uta looked at her curiously, "After all, something isn't born evil. It's created."_

**Shi**

_"Ghouls don't scare me like other things. Evil things scare me, and contrary to popular belief, and I'm sorry if this goes against your view on Ghouls, but Ghouls aren't born evil. They're conditioned to be evil, or seen as evil. A Ghoul is like a human in which it's a superior animal. We humans eat animals, those Ghouls eat us humans. Humans and Ghouls are both types of evolved animals, humans are food. Ghouls are food. Animals are food. We all die at some point, after all. So no, Ghouls do not scare me, Uta-san."_

**Was**

_"I had a run in with a Ghoul last night. I got away, but damn she hurt. I'd rather this over her spearing through my stomach like she tried though." Shi pulled her arm out of Uta's grip as if his touch burned._

_"How did you survive?" Uta inquired when she turned and her low back tank top revealed bandages wrapped around her stomach and lower back._

_"Luck and stupidity."_

**Hell's**

_"What if I wasn't human?" inquired Shi._

_Uta pondered this thought for a moment, "You wouldn't be the you that you are now."_

_"And if I was? What if I became a Ghoul tomorrow?"_

_"You'd be you, you accepted me as a Ghoul and I accepted you as a human. Should you be a Ghoul, I'd think no different." answered Uta sincerely. Shi smiled._

_"I'm glad." she whispered into him._

**Angel?**

_"You're still a monster!" Warai gurgled with some issue due to his throat being ripped open, "Your bare hands can go through even the skin of a Ghoul!"_

_"I didn't leave her alone." Warai challenged, shaking Shi around, "Why don't I have a little snack before leaving?" He went to bite into Shi's arm, and Shi, a fighter at heart, brought her elbow down on the Ghoul's nose. Warai dropped her and she landed on her feet, sprinting towards the door before realizing Uta hadn't ran with her._

Suddenly, it all made sense.

* * *

**Thanks to the following for reviewing:**

**MaxBacon**


	18. Humanity

**A Masked Secret**

_Chapter 18_

_Humanity_

* * *

Shi watched as Uta's facial expression changed and suddenly, his eyes regarded her differently than he had ever before. What had brought on this sudden change?

"Uta?" Shi asked, putting a hand to his shoulder. Uta put his own hand over hers.

Uta's eyes didn't leave her own, "Shi... you are Hell's Angel, aren't you." It wasn't even questioning. It was a simple sure statement.

Shi's breath stopped suddenly, and her eyes widened by a small fraction. Shi breathed out, slowly, as if biding her time. Then, as if accepting of her fate, reached with her other hand and pulled out the contact in her left eye. What was left was a pure black eye with a single red slit.

They sat in silence as the two thought over the situation. Shi, who had wanted so badly to keep her secret, had just lost it. Uta, whose secret had been lost already, was trying to make sense of how Shi had hidden her identity.

"Why?"

The single word could have meant many things, but it was enough for Shi to lean forward and rest her head on Uta's shoulder. Uta manuevered his arms around her and she breathed in the smell of iron and material.

"I... I can't tell you, who I am. Where I'm from. I can tell you, that I'm not fully a Ghoul. I'm something so oddly in between human and Ghoul, what I really am is so hard to believe I'm not even a one eyed Ghoul, I'm a failed mutation perhaps." Shi's breath was warm against Uta's neck, "I've lived, wanting so badly to be a normal human. I've played all my cards. I waited until moments before death several times before I actually did something to save myself. But, there is no savior for me."

'Idontknowwhothatis.'

Her mind was jumbled as she reached for her bag, desperate to find something to help the situation. Then, the woman looming above her grinned down at Shi with a feral grin and her eyes spun from an average brown to a deep red kakugan.

_'I'mgoingtodieifIdon'tdosomething.'_

_And she threw herself to the side to avoid a hand that reached for her chest. Her heart._

_Painpainpainpainpain._

_There was only red._

_And then, with no other choice, Shi snarled. Her contacts began to burn away and she ripped her shoulder off the Ghoul's hand. Shi's hand speared upwards, through the Ghoul's body and out it's back. Blood spouted into the air like a fountain, painting the walls and floor. Shi ripped into her shoulder's wound and spilled blood over the floor. Then, from her bag she fished out her mask and jumped to the roof after grabbing the Ghoul's quivering body bridal style. Just as the door opened and Uta reached the scene, Shi looked down at him._

_Shi was glad for the moonlight as it hid her and the Ghoul's identities, giving them a silhouetted appearance. Shi looked at the Ghoul, glad for how the silhouette could be mistaken for her. Shi knew that with her blood that she had left down there it would be overpowering for Uta and Reiko to sense the blood down there mostly wasn't hers._

"I've known for a very long time that you were a Ghoul, Reiko as well. I didn't know when I first met you, rather, your mask couldn't hide who you were that night I was attacked. You killed that Ghoul while I was running."

_"She doesn't look like an SS rank..." Aoba's eyes narrowed. Hell's Angel chuckled at the statement before lifting Reiko._

_"Run." she whispered to Reiko. Reiko nodded and took off after ripping her bag off the street. Shi turned to the doves, her smile widening._

_"You will either die here, or leave Watanabi Reiko-san alone." Shi told them. Aoba attempted to fight but Shi easily blocked his quinque. With little effort, Shi was moving at speeds beyond human comprehension. After a moment, Aoba fell and Shi stopped as cuts appeared throughout his body. Shi kicked Aoba in the chest when he reached for his quinque again._

_Aoba died from the impact, she knew. And it was a shame, but Shi valued the life of her friend more than the life of a dove she didn't know. Shi tilted her head at Rentaro._

_"Will you leave Reiko-san alone?"_

_Rentaro refused and tried to fight. So, he screamed as Shi shattered his right hand. He agreed to leave her alone when she threatened his entire left arm._

Uta's eyes narrowed at Shi, "How strong are you?"

Shi laughed into his shoulder. She didn't answer him, but Uta knew the answer. Shi was strong. Uta grit his teeth as he thought back to a conversation with Itori.

_"What else do you know about Hell's Angel?"_

_Itori didn't comment on the sudden change in conversation, "Hell's Angel, that bitch who saves humans."_

_"She also saves Ghouls from doves." Uta reminded her, recalling Reiko running to him and Shi slightly less than two weeks prior._

_"She still deprives some of us from our meals. It's like a human buying their food and Hell's Angel coming along, grabbing the food and tossing it out of their reach. She hasn't died yet, which is surprising but she won't accomplish anything with what she's doing." Itori almost growled, surprisingly passionate on the topic._

_"What's your issue with her?" Uta asked bluntly. Itori calmed herself and ran her hand through her hair._

_"She'll eventually get in our way. What she's doing will eventually directly oppose the Clowns, and we'll have to kill her. She stands for the weak and saves them, we have our fun off the weak and even the strong." Itori explained. It made sense to Uta._

_"We will have to kill her." he agreed, "When she becomes a problem."_

Now things had changed. The Clowns would simply have to deal with Hell's Angel, as Uta valued Shi over them.

Uta valued Shi over the Clowns.

It hit Uta that he valued Shi. That now that the real Shi was sitting before him, there was nothing between them. They were now equals, rather than Ghoul and human. Shi said she wasn't a Ghoul, but she was more of a Ghoul than she had been before. Uta could accept that.

'Have all your secrets been unmasked, Shi?' Uta wondered as he placed his head on hers. He ran a hand down her back, feeling as if he was truly feeling Shi at that moment. Without those secrets holding them back, could their relationship truly become a relationship?

Could they perhaps have what that couple had?

Shi was no longer human, but, Uta had in a way come to terms with her humanity. That couple had changed something in him, his view on his relationship with Shi.

"Shi." he whispered into her ear, "I came to terms with your humanity. I don't care anymore, whether you're Ghoul, human, neither or both."

"And now you know my biggest secret. You're almost unmasked me entirely, but you don't need to know who I used to be. Only who I am now." Shi looked up and pressed their noses together. Then, slowly, almost tentatively, their lips came together and behind them was a new passion neither had felt before.

The two found their way upstairs to Uta's bed, where for the first time they didn't play games. Rather than teasing to the point of stopping both had come to terms with the issues separating them. And with their new mental bond, came the physical side.

When later, they laid beside each other, both were content. Shi's head was rested on Uta's chest while the black sheets covered their bare naked forms from the hips down. Shi had the blanket loosely around her top despite Uta's protest at the action of her covering herself.

"Uta?" Shi whispered, breaking the calm silence.

"Mm?" Uta opened a single red eye to look down at Shi. Her other contact had come out to reveal a completely human eye with a dark iris similar to Reiko's. Uta had found out that eye was her "Ghoul" eye, in which it became overcame by the kakugan and Shi couldn't control it. Her other eye Shi didn't want to talk about, and Uta accepted it. He knew who she was now, and that was what mattered.

"I love you."

Uta's chest didn't rise and fall again for a moment, concerning Shi. Uta had to think for a moment before he realized that he returned the sentiment. His fear of losing Shi, his change to accommodate her humanity, the way his thoughts were irrational when he had almost lost her.

"I love you too."

* * *

**Thanks to the following for reviewing:**

**Savinda**  
**Sain (I'm so glad you like the story! :D)**


	19. With You

**A Masked Secret**

_Chapter 19_

_With You_

* * *

Shi left for work from Uta's apartment slightly disgruntled the next morning, having no clothes to change into so being forced to go to work in the previous days clothes. She was sure she would recieve shit from her boss for her clothes and lack of makeup, but hopefully Reiko would be there to lessen the blow.

Shi slipped into her cubicle with no issues meeting her from the door to her workspace. Shi, in the clear, slumped down on her desk and looked over her planner. Of course a familiar blonde slunk into the cubicle after about fifteen minutes.

"Oh Shiiiiii-shiiiiii-chaaaan." Reiko cooed as she rested her chin on Shi's shoulder, "I thiiiink I smell something lewd."

"I think you're smelling a mixture of blood, ink and my deodorant. They copulated to create this." demurred Shi. Reiko snickered and sat on Shi's desk.

"Not only those smells copulated, did they?" Reiko leaned in, her grin wide. Shi narrowed her eyes at the Ghoul.

"How did your date go? I see you're alive." Reiko slapped a hand over her mouth to prevent the howl of laughter from erupting out of her at Shi's nonchalant attempts to change the topic.

Reiko reduced her laughter to simple sniggers, "Not only did you and Uta-san copulate last night, Shi-shi-chan."

Shi blinked, "On the first date?"

"I'm a whore, I know. But he was just sooooo good looking, I had to." Reiko leaned in, and Shi put a hand over Reiko's mouth.

"Whatever you're going to ask, don't. I can see mischief in your eyes." Shi warned, ignoring the fact Reiko licked her hand. Reiko frowned when Shi didn't let go and nodded when Shi gave her an annoyed glare. Shi removed her hand, wiped it on her jeans, and turned to her desk.

"But Shi-shi-chan, tell me, how are things between you and Uta-san now?" Reiko inquired. Shi smiled as she slid into her chair and flipped open her sketchbook.

"Good, better than ever actually." Shi answered, a rosy pink hue dusting her cheeks as she thought to the previous night.

_"I love you too."_

Reiko smiled as she looked down at Shi. But, as always, things couldn't simply stay peaceful. Reiko made herself at home on Shi's desk, watching as her eraser diligently worked at a pencil sketch she wasn't happy with.

"Ne, Shi-shi-chan. Did you and Uta-san use protection?"

Shi choked.

Reiko blinked.

Then... "Damn. I'm gonna be an aunt then."

"No, you won't be." Shi shook her head, "Human-Ghoul pregnancies are rare. I also have a lesser chance of pregnancy than most women."

"But there's still that slim chance, Shi-shi-chan." Reiko reminded her. Shi blew at her bangs in frustration.

'Reiko is right, there's that chance. But I highly doubt it, I don't even know if i can have kids. I'm not natural, something between human and Ghoul.' Shi decided to change the topic to distract Reiko, "Who says you'd be an aunt anyway?"

Reiko grinned, "The kid would need an aunt." then Reiko paused, "Shit that was actually really mean and insensitive of me to say, wasn't it?" Reiko slid off the desk and bowed to Shi, "I'm very sorry, Shi-shi-chan, I didn't mean any disrespect."

"It's fine, I've come to terms with having no family." Shi replied, truly not caring about Reiko's comment. Reiko still hovered nervously for a few moments before trusting Shi's word. Reiko returned to her own cubicle but Shi found that Reiko had planted seeds in her mind.

'What if Uta and I's relationship gets that far?' Shi wondered, leaning back in her chair and biting at the end of her pencil, 'Does Uta want kids? Or marriage?'

Then, bitterly, Shi bit through her pencil with a snap, 'No... I couldn't put him through that.'

Meanwhile, Uta was regretting his decision to visit Anteiku with Itori. Firstly, Itori had grilled him for details on his and Shi's make up. She had gleefully deducted they had make up sex, which now that Uta thought about it wasn't entirely false, and then Touka had wandered over to get involved.

"How are you and Shi-san, Uta-san?" Touka inquired, as if she hadn't heard Itori grilling Uta on his sex life. Uta gave Touka a pleasant (fake) smile.

"Shi and I are doing well." answered Uta politely, sipping at his coffee.

Itori gave Touka a devious look with a single raised eyebrow, "They had a fight but they made up."

"Speaking of Shi-san, Uta-san she's human." Touka's statement earned a raised eyebrow from Uta.

"It's weird, isn't it?" Itori butted in, "Shi-san is just an ordinary human yet she caught U-chan's eye."

Uta was wondering if it was too late to leave. He leaned back and looked out the window, more interested in what was happening outside the cafe. Itori took note of his lack of interest but turned back to Touka.

"Love's a weird thing, isn't it, Touka-san?" Itori mentioned, eyes lighting when she saw Uta tense for the briefest moment.

"Love?" Touka parroted as if it were a foreign word to her, "Do you love Shi-san, Uta-san?" Uta didn't answer right away. He sipped at his coffee again, biding time by slowly finishing it off. He gently put it on the table, looking down into the empty cup.

"It's not any of your business, is it Touka-san?"

Touka blushed and apologized before leaving the table. Itori leaned her chin on her hand and she observed Uta with curiosity.

"You've changed." Itori took note, "But I have little doubt that if you had to, you'd be the monster you used to be."

"And what could cause that?" Uta prodded, looking out the window again but giving Itori his full attention.

Itori smiled, "A threat."

"Of?"

"The CCG are monitoring the fourth ward carefully due to Hell's Angel most frequently being seen there. They plan to take her out, along with all the Ghouls in that ward." Itori traced the rim of her coffee while looking through her lashes at Uta, "That would certainly be a problem for you."

Uta hadn't visibly reacted at the mention of Hell's Angel. But he had frowned slightly at the mention of the CCG being more aggressive than normal, "That hardly seems like a reason to take out all the Ghouls in the fourth ward."

"They're humans, U-chan. They're all fools. Even that little human you're playing with right now," Itori scoffed, "Love? No, that's a human you have there U-chan. Infatuation maybe, attraction. But not love. Humans are food, remember that U-chan." Then Itori stood and left with hardly a flutter of her long red hair.

"Uta-san?" Ten minutes later Touka approached Uta, who still sat at the table and hadn't stopped watching the pedestrians passing by the cafe. Uta turned his head to regard her with his usual pleasant expression, "It's none of my business, but, how did you fall in love with a human?"

Touka had made her own conclusion then, that Uta did love Shi. Not even denying the fact or trying to change the topic, Uta gestured out the window to a nondescript couple who were walking arm and arm down the street.

"What do you see, Touka-san?" Uta asked.

Touka squinted at the couple as if the question was a trick question, "A couple?"

"Yes," Uta gestured to them again when Touka gave him a funny look, "When you look at them from far away that's all they are. From here we don't know whether they're two humans, two Ghouls, or a Ghoul and a human. We don't even know if they really are a couple."

"What's the meaning of this, Uta-san?" Touka questioned. Uta gave her a pleasant look, no matter if it was fake or not.

"I initially had reservations about Shi. There was a line between us. But lines can be crossed, Touka-san." Uta stood and deposited money on the table, "Don't look with just your eyes, as looks can be deceiving." Uta put his hands in his pockets and started to walk away, ignoring Touka whose gaze lingered on his back. Uta had surprised himself with the encounter, but simply assumed Shi had left a change in him. After all, Shi seemed to be an interesting person.

Uta returned to his shop but took note of every human who seemed to be of the slightest suspicion. Uta had found three doves in his return to his shop which made him wonder if Shi and Reiko would be alright. The CCG was surely still aware of Reiko's existence and Shi would eventually be hunted down.

Despite the worries that crossed his mind Uta stayed inside his shop, beginning on a series of masks. By the time Shi's work day had ended, Uta wondered if she would return home or come back to his shop. The answer came in the form of his door opening and Shi rushing inside. She slammed the door shut, huffing as she unbuttoned her coat and tossed it onto her stool.

"There's an increase in the number of doves, I had two ask me if I needed an escort home as it's dangerous at night." Shi complained, pulling off her boots and wiggling her toes.

"You seem tense." Uta noticed as Shi tried to stretch out her back by all her muscles protested and held firm.

"I am, I need to be careful now with going out at night as Hell's Angel. Maybe I'll wait awhile before going back out again considering the ward is swarming with doves." Shi's whining slowly turned to moans as she slumped over on the work table. Uta gave her a slightly concerned look.

Her shoulders were as taut as a bow string and after a moment of her looking extremely uncomfortable she sat up and rubbed at her spine. She slid off the stool and muttered something about going to lay in bed and that if he wanted to join her she'd be out like a light soon. Uta followed a few minutes later after shutting off the lights in the shop and locking the door. He stood in the dark doorway with the only light spilling out of the bathroom. Shi was leaning against the sink with her hands beneath the running water. She rinsed her face and smacked at her cheeks to wake herself up.

"What're the doves planning?" Shi wondered.

Uta answered with the information he received from Itori, "To take out every Ghoul in the fourth ward."

Shi sputtered and looked at him with wide eyes. Her mind was whirling, "They'd need a lot of doves for that."

"They have alot of doves." retorted Uta, "They're going to keep sending more doves in until it's inhabitable for Ghouls. They want to flush out Hell's Angel and kill her."

Shi gripped the sink and breathed deeply through her nose. She ran a hand through her hair to calm herself before she turned and walked to Uta. She wrapped her arms around his midsection and rested her head on his chest.

"I've brought alot of trouble on the Ghouls of the fourth ward. Perhaps I should move to a different ward?" Shi's voice was muffled in Uta's shirt, "Maybe move them to a different ward?"

Uta thought on it. It was a difficult situation Shi was in now. The doves were moving directly against her. If she disappeared now they would continue to search for her as she was that much of a threat. A Ghoul who saved other Ghouls was worse than a Ghoul who just ate. A savior of other Ghouls allowed more Ghouls to run free and eat more humans and bring the deaths up more than if she was just any other Ghoul. She was actively, in the CCG's eyes, working against them and her work was effective. An all out attack on her would be the best solution for them.

"They'll search for you." Uta spoke up, his chest rumbling, "You're too much of a threat."

Uta turned off the light and led her to his bed. They laid side by side and Shi rested her head on his chest again. With half closed eyes, Shi looked up at Uta.

"Uta, what do you want for the future?"

Uta blinked at the odd question, "Future?"

"I mean our future. Today Reiko brought something up..." Shi sighed and closde her eyes, "Never mind, I'm being stupid and weird."

Uta thought on it. He of course wanted to stay with Shi. He had never thought of what the future entailed though. What did Shi want?

"What do you want for the future?" Uta parroted her question. Shi started to trace the tattoo on Uta's bare chest. He had shed his shirt at some point from the bathroom to his bed.

Shi was silent for a few moments. Uta started to run his hands through her bright white hair as she thought about the question.

"Well, long term future..." Shi trailed off, "Say, what about marriage and kids and that. What're your thoughts on that?"

Uta's chest paused in it's movement for a moment and she heard the slightest intake of breath that was so out of character for Uta yet very appropriate for the question.

"Do you want marriage? Kids?" Uta returned the question to her.

"Don't answer a question with a question." Shi was not having that shit.

Uta thought on it, "I've never thought of having a family."

"So that's a no?" Shi blinked when Uta brought his hand to her cheek and gently lifted her head.

"It's not a no." Uta told her, "But what do you want?"

Shi didn't look him in the eye, "I... my unusual circumstances mean I probably can't have kids. There's a possibility that Reiko reminded me of today when she asked personal questions, that without using protection there's a very slight possibility of me being pregnant. But as much as I'd like kids, I doubt it'd happen and to put them through being whatever I would produce as whatever I am..." There was also the fact Shi was part human and half Ghoul half human children were very rare.

"I'm happy how we are. Reiko just instilled the thoughts in me." Shi lifted her head to capture Uta's lips with her own and thus began their night.

But the thoughts of what Shi was possibly taking away from Uta swam in her mind after they had settled to sleep. Uta wanting a family, if he did as he had answered as vaguely as possible, that couldn't happen with her. Shi knew that at some point there would be some kind of tragedy to get between them. Whether it be her death, his death, or both of them dying or one of them being discovered, it didn't matter. And there was also the fact of what she was, that would always be in the way. No matter how accepting Uta was.

Shi wrapped her arms around Uta's arm that was snugly fit around her midsection. She was currently stealing Uta's body heat and the blanket was shared evenly between them but by morning she would definitely shave stolen it.

She sighed and whispered, more so to herself than to the sleeping Uta, "I'm sorry... but I can't live without you... nor can I live with you. Not with what I am."

Unknown to Shi Uta was awake. Uta's eyes blinked open as she settled to sleep after finding some peace with herself. With a light frown he kissed the top of her head gently as if she would shatter right there in his arms.

'I can live neither with you nor without you.' Uta thought, 'A fitting quote. Humans and Ghouls, Shi and I. Will things be resolved? Tragedies are so common lately... they're boring.'

* * *

**Thanks to the following for reviewing:**

**A week or two and no one ;-;**


End file.
